NATIONAL women football team, Twiga Stars Head Coach, Bakari Shime has remained positive with his team’s performance at the ongoing Union of North Africa Football Federation (UNAF) in Tunisia.
Twiga Stars solo run in the championship was checked on Tuesday, following a 3-2 loss to Morocco at Al Karama Stadium in Rades, Tunisia.
During the game, Twiga Stars defender, Happy Hezron was sent off for second bookable offence. And, Coach Shime poured out praise on his team, insisting that they showed diligence even when they played less.
Shime remained confident that his squad will recover from the defeat to win the last game in the tournament on Saturday, when they face hosts Tunisia at the same venue.
“I’m proud of my players of the results today (Tuesday). Loosing this game was painful but it gave us a crucial lesson in building our team and we have picked some positives from it. We will certainly address mistakes we observed during the game to strengthen our team,” Shime said.
However, Shime blamed match referee for awarding a dubious penalty to Morocco, saying the spot kick derailed his players’ focus.
“After the penalty, my players panicked and lost determination… their attitude changed completely. It became more difficult and a challenge after our player was shown red card,” he said.
Still, despite the loss, Twiga Stars are firmly leading the chase for the UNAF standings with six points, 12 goals for while conceding only five goals.
Morocco are second with six points, but they have notched four goals while shipping on two goals. Algeria are placed third with three points, having scored seven goals, while conceding three goals.
The hosts Tunisia are placed fourth with three points after playing two games; scoring three goals and conceding one goal.
At the bottom of the table are Mauritania, who are without a point and have not scored a goal, but shipped in 15 goals.
