No time for Tusker to stagger as Mette lays down marker for Confederations Cup return leg

NAIROBI, Kenya, September 11, 2026 – Tusker head coach Julien Mette says he expects nothing short of a win in Sunday’s return leg of the Caf Confederations Cup preliminary round match against Al Ahli Madani at the Nyayo Stadium.

Mette says a defeat would be a damning indictment of their qualities as a team and their ability to play at the highest level.

“If I sum up, the first game I was not really stressed, but I had a little stress because we didn’t know really that team. Now that we have played them, we know them 100 per cent so we will not be surprised. If we are not able to win or to secure the qualification, means that we don’t have the level in terms of tactical and mental,” the gaffer indicated.

The Frenchman adds that they have studied their opponents closely and are ready to pounce on them in their quest for a positive result.

“We have some concerns, but not so much because we have watched it and we have been doing video sessions. My job is to work on the weaknesses we have had. We have trained on that, so now they are prepared,” Mette said.

The first leg between the two sides at the Kigali Pele Stadium, last weekend, ended in a 2-2 draw – the brewers surrendering a 2-0 lead in the second 45.

Mette attributes the slip to a litany of issues, including his charges’ relative inexperience at the continental level coupled with their scant knowledge of their Sudanese opponents.

“Everybody said it was a positive result but then again when you are leading 2-0, you have to secure it. The lack of maturity cost us because some of the experienced players were not on the pitch. There was the question of whether to keep the possession or to go for a third. We played long balls and were punished,” he said.

Mette added: “The player who scored the set-piece and then the penalty, we didn’t know much about him. We haven’t been able to identify him because we have only seen three of their friendly matches. That is the challenge of the first round in that we didn’t know much about the opponents.”

As a template for the continental campaign, Tusker have Nairobi United to look at as a team that have defied the odds to play at the highest level of the competition.

Naibois famously became the second Kenyan side to reach the group stages of the Confederations Cup, outrunning Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel in last year’s competition.

Granted that the feat is not one to be sniffed at, Mette is determined to go one better by seamlessly progressing through, rather than go all the way to post-match penalties as was the case for Patrick Aussems’ side.

“It was very good news for Kenyan football and a huge performance. But, it was not a win…it was a draw and draws, go to penalty. These first rounds are always very, very tight. If we can copy paste what Nairobi United did, I will take it but I cannot imagine to go on the penalty,” he said.

Well, for them to even have the chance to fight for a slot in the group stages, the brewers will have to go through Al Ahli Madani.

As the first leg showed, Mette’s charges cannot afford a slothful approach or even treat their opponents with kid gloves.

They do that and it will turn into a game of razor thin margins – home crowd or not.