The African Cup of Nation match between Kenya and Tanzania was one of the most thrilling matches in the competition so far and fans cannot just stop talking about it. Harambee Stars and Taifa Stars were both fighting to keep alive their hopes of going past the group stages but only one could make it.
The Kenyan side managed to hold their opponents with a 3-2 victory after a serious struggle where the distinguishing goal came in the 80th minute through a quick shot by striker Michael Olunga.
After the final whistle, fans had the following to note down.
1) Michael Olunga’s goals
Olunga proved that he is the mainstay for the Kenyan side after scoring two crucial goals for his side and most importantly, the winning goal a few minutes before the end of the match. Unlike in Algeria match, the Kashiwa Reysol player was more composed and made good use of the chances he got. Notably, he was quick to release the ball.
It was tough to decide😅 but here's the goal of the day! 👊
Michael Olunga's in #KENTAN won it all!Presented to you by @1xbet_Eng #TotalAFCON2019 pic.twitter.com/okogQNDf9d
— CAF (@CAF_Online) June 28, 2019
Olunga scored the first goal in the 39th minute with an acrobatic effort. A free kick into the area was pushed away by goalkeeper Manula, the ball bounced off Tanzania defender Erasto Nyoni and was hooked into the net by Olunga who showed excellent reactions. His second goal came when Eric Johana broke out of defence and the ball was played to Olunga, whose snot sneaked between Manula and his near post.
Can we talk about the assist to olunga second goal 🔥🔥🔥🔥.
#KENTAN #KenyaVsTanzania #AFCON2019 #HarambeeStars https://t.co/u1J7i76lb1
— Gitau (@ItsGitaus) June 27, 2019
2) Joseph Okumu’s effort in the defense
Joseph Okumu was the man who rescued Harambee Stars’ defense as the 22-year-old used well his height and strength to block most of the balls from the opponents. Okumu was stronger and looked more determined against their East Africa neighbours compared to Algeria. Even though the right-back was utterly leaking, high balls from Tanzania were well managed by Real Monarchs’ player.
Y'all can praize olunga Marcelo matasi n forget about our koulibaly OKUMU let's show this man some love 🔥🔥🔥🔥 #KenyaVsTanzania pic.twitter.com/WjQmFvQ6qB
— CLOWN (@Jamrick_m) June 27, 2019
3) Tanzania were no walk in the park
Although neither team are among the heavyweights of African football, they produced a remarkably open contest with a hatful of chances. An end to end move ended with captain Mbwana Samatta being sent clear down the left, his shot was parried by Patrick Matasi and Happygod Msuvan turned in the rebound. Kenya then equalised in the 39th minute through Olunga’s acrobatic effort.
Before Harambee Stars’ fans concluded their celebrations, Samatta won the ball in the penalty area and the Belgian-based forward fired a low shot into the net. They held Migne’s boys till the 80th minute when a breakthrough came through Olunga’s lowly-driven shot.
https://youtu.be/lGEKV4kdUiI
Kenya and Tanzania will play their last group stage matches on Monday 1 July against Senegal and Algeria respectively.