Kenya's national team, the Harambee Stars, returned home from Tunisia on Friday and blamed inadequate preparations and stage fright for their early elimination from the African Nations Cup.
"It was the stage fright that caused us dearly," said midfielder Titus Mulama, whose solitary goal in the 3-1 loss against Mali in Bizerte earned him the distinction of being the first Kenyan to score in the tournament from open play in more than 30 years.
"It was our first time for these boys to play such big teams as Senegal which reached the quarter-finals of the last World Cup finals," said head coach Jacob Mulee.
Mulee said the Kenya Football Federation had not given his team a conducive atmosphere to prepare for Tunisia.
"Our preparations were a bit erratic. Most often I was not given a free hand by the federation to prepare the team," he said.
Mulee, however, was happy that Kenya beat Burkina Faso 3-0 to register their first victory after 32 years in the biennual championships.