On Thursday 10 June 2021, Nairobi City Stars journey in the Betway Cup came to a crashing end after a 1-0 defeat at fellow promotion partners Bidco United at Ruaraka grounds.
A lone goal in the 21st minute by David Orem, off a through ball by Stephen Waruru, is what made the difference.
Here’s how the #FKFBetwayCup journey has been.
Who do you think will go all the way to continental football? pic.twitter.com/VcXrrysDKc
— FKF Betway Cup (@FKFCup) June 11, 2021
In the loss, City Stars three-game winning streak in the Cup competition that started with a 4-1 win over Mutomo Tigers in Kitui, in mid-February during the round of 64, came to an end.
A 1-0 win over Fortune Sacco in Kianyaga, then a 2-0 win over Ulinzi Stars in rounds of 32 and 16 then followed, respectively.
The wins over Fortune Sacco and Ulizi Stars came at the back of league triumphs over Sofapaka (3-0) and Kariobangi Sharks (2-1).
Speaking after the exit on Thursday, Sanjin took stock of the immediate past game.
“First I need to congratulate my team for a good run in making it to the quarterfinal of the Cup,”
“We represented City Stars well. They were good and exciting matches, great experience,”
“We missed a little to be in semis but unfortunately we didn’t succeed though, in my opinion, we were the better team (against Bidco) with some of the best opportunities (to score and win),”
“I wish to congratulate the Bidco team and I wish them all the best in upcoming matches,”
Sanjin, in his maiden Kenyan Premier League (KPL) season, picked out the pros and cons of taking part in the competition.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS ULINZI V NCS + MATCH ANALYSIS#???????ℕ?????? pic.twitter.com/ePRbaZSMLw
— Official Nairobi City Stars Fc (@NrbCityStars) June 6, 2021
“I will look at this from two perspectives, one positive and one negative; positive is that we are in really good shape and after two wins in the league we continued the run in the Cup with great performance,”
“The negative is that we have played many games every 3-4 days in the last few weeks and the players are exhausted. We now have just four days before we play the next league match,”
“The schedule is too tight for matches and this will continue for the next 2 or so months. I believe players will suffer from tiredness, injuries and it will be very hard to keep a good level of performance.”
Because of the tight schedule, Sanjin believes it’s not only City Stars that will suffer from fatigue, but many more teams;
“You’ll see many surprise results in upcoming Championship matches.” he summed
Sanjin’s most immediate tasks are back-to-back home league games against Western Stima and Kakamega Homeboyz on Tuesday 15 and Saturday 19 June, all at Ruaraka starting 3pm.
?|Simba wa Nairobi are currently 9th on the Log after 18 outings.
Here are the next 5 fixtures for @NrbCityStars #BKPL pic.twitter.com/TGi1TUsW1g
— Betking Kenya Premier League (@Officialfkfpl) June 10, 2021