Minnows Eritrea send Harambee Stars packing

Harambee Stars on Tuesday suffered its worst defeat this year in a result that saw the team eliminated from the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.

Stars were spanked 4-1 by lowly Eritrea in the semi-finals on the tournament at the StarTimes Stadium in Kampala.

This surprising outcome also means Kenya failed to defend the regional football title.

Ulinzi Stars forward Oscar Wamalwa, arguably Kenya's most impressive player of the tournament, put the ball into his own net to hand Eritrea the lead in the opening half.

Abel Solomon made it 2-0 for the Red Sea Boys seven minutes after the break.

Eritrea will either face hosts Uganda or Tanzania in the final of the tournament on Thursday, while Kenya will await the loser of that game for a contest to determine which team finishes third and fourth in this eight-team tournament.

Harambee Stars midfielder Kenneth Muguna was lost for words after the shock result.

"To be honest, I just do not know what happened today," the Gor Mahia midfielder attempted to explain.

"We found ourselves suddenly trailing and then fought back but ran out of luck and gas. Fair play to our opponents."

Eritrea captain Robel Teklemichel had, in his pre-match notes, issued a warning to the Kenyan camp to prepare for tiki-taka (Spanish for a fast passing game) battle and boy didn't he keep his word.

Not even the return of coach Francis Kimanzi to the dugout after serving a two-match touchline ban could inspire team Kenya.

Instead, Abel Solomon made it 2-0 seven minutes after the break before Wamalwa got things right by scoring in the required goal to tweak the score line to 2-1.

But Eritrea, ranked 205 out 210 teams on the Fifa rankings, some 100 places below Kenya, were far from done.

Micheal Habte Gebremesqel added goal number three after 75 minutes, before the exciting Teklemichel sealed the win in stoppage time.