This archive report was first published on 2 July 2019.
On Monday night, Kenya's Harambee Stars suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Senegal in their final Group C match at the Air Defense Forces Stadium in Cairo, effectively dimming their hopes of making it into the second round at the 2019 African Cup of Nations.
The match saw Sadio Mane score a brace, including one from the penalty spot after Ismaila Sarr had opened the scoring.
Kenya's loss sees them remain third in the group with three points, with their only hope of advancing to the round of 16 relying on results from Group E and F going in their favor and them remaining ranked as one of the best four third-placed teams.
Currently, Kenya is ranked fourth in that mini-table, just below South Africa on goal difference.
The Stars' hopes of advancing will be made clear on Tuesday night, as they rely on Mali and Tunisia beating Angola and Mauritania respectively in Group E, as well as defending champions Cameroon and Ghana beating Benin and Guinea Bissau respectively in Group F.
The match saw Kenya's defense crumble in the second half, allowing Senegal to score their three goals. The first goal came in the 62nd minute, when Matasi came off his line to pick out a cross and missed with Sarr picking the ball behind him, chesting it down and rifling it in with the keeper still on the ground.
Eight minutes later, Mohammed failed to control a long defended ball off a corner and Mane running behind him managed to pick the ball ahead of him and calmly beat an advancing Matasi who had earlier denied him from the penalty spot.
Philemon Otieno's rush tackle on Sarr inside the box earned him a second yellow card and a penalty that was tucked in by Mane to wrap up the win for Senegal.
Before those three goals, Kenya had come close but Dennis Odhiambo's rifling volley destined for the top left corner was acrobatically saved by the Senegalese keeper.
Kenya had started the game well, with Olunga running into a back pass to the keeper but his effort from close range went over.
Senegal grew into the game, but Kenya defended well, with Matasi being fantastic between the sticks, saving his third penalty in four games after 28 minutes when Saliou Ciss came down under a challenge from Mohammed.
Matasi had also made another brilliant block when he threw himself in front of Idrissa Gana Gueye's shot as the Everton midfielder pulled the trigger unmarked inside the box, and at the stroke of halftime, Matasi extended a right hand to push Ismaila Sarr's angled header off a Gueye cross onto the bar.
Earlier on in the 22nd minute, Matasi had made another important save to go down well and pick out a shot from Mbaye Niang who broke into the box after a quick throw in.
