WARRIORS caretaker coach Joey Antipas believes his team could have avoided the humiliation of losing to lightweights Somalia had they taken their chances and trained as a group ahead of the match.

The Warriors made history for all the wrong reason on Thursday when they became the first team to lose to the Somali Ocean Stars in a World Cup qualifier following a 0-1 defeat in Djibouti.

The East Africans had also been winless in 31 games — World Cup/AFCON/friendlies — since the turn of the millennium.

Their last positive result had been a draw exactly 10 years ago.
But, they changed all that on Thursday with a victory that cheered the globe as their win made headlines across the world.

“We missed a host of chances and became desperate as the game went on and Somalia were dangerous on the counter attack,’’ said Antipas.

“Elvis (Chipezeze) kept us in the game with a good double save.
“The pitch was artificial and hard and to compound to our woes, we did not have a single session together due to the hectic travel arrangements.’’

The Warriors went down to the world’s lowest ranked team.
However, Antipas and his men still have a chance to redeem themselves when they host the Ocean Stars at the National Sports Stadium in the reverse tie on Tuesday.State media