If not playing at home wasn’t enough, Kenya has failed to qualify for the 2025 Afcon tournament with a draw against Namibia to end their disappointing campaign.
The match on Tuesday evening, November 19, ended in a goalless draw, leaving Kenya third place in the table.
The game was held in South Africa’s Peter Mokaba stadium, but there were no clear-cut chances for the East African country to win the tie.
Despite head coach Engin Firat making a few changes to the starting eleven, with captain Michael Olunga on the bench, the changes seemed to bear no fruit, as the game ended in a stalemate.
Finished Third in Group
Kenya finished with just six points in Group J, with one win and three draws. Cameroon finished top of the group with 14 points, and Zimbabwe came in second with nine points.
This has come with heavy criticism of the coach, who is known for calling out his team and the federation at large for what he terms incompetence.
The AFCON 2025 journey comes to an end without qualification.
Results:
Kenya 🇰🇪 0-0 Namibia 🇳🇦
Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 1-1 Kenya 🇰🇪
Kenya 🇰🇪 0-1 Cameroon 🇨🇲
Cameroon 🇨🇲 4-1 Kenya 🇰🇪
Namibia 🇳🇦 1-2 Kenya 🇰🇪
Kenya 🇰🇪 0-0 Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 pic.twitter.com/CPJstjqvWn— Eric Njiru (@EricNjiiru) November 19, 2024
Kenya has been playing their home matches in Uganda, and the underachievement will be even more painful for the country as Tanzania and Uganda both qualified for the tournament.
The African football tournament, which will be held in Morocco, will begin on December 21, 2025, and run until January 18, 2026.
Kenya will not need to work as hard for the next tournament as it prepares to host the event alongside its neighbours; hence, it will qualify automatically.
