Benni McCarthy confident Kenya will be ready to shine at CHAN

Photo Credit - Football Kenya Federation.

After winning his first match in charge of the Kenya national team after four attempts, South African coach Benni McCarthy has exuded confidence that Harambee Stars will be ready to compete at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in August.

The eighth edition of the biennial tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), featuring national teams consisting of players currently playing in their respective local leagues, will be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Harambee Stars played back-to-back international friendlies against Chad in the recent FIFA international break, managing a 0-0 draw in the first, and a 2-1 win in the second – both played at Stade de Marrakech in Morocco.

According to McCarthy, what he saw in the two matches gives him great hope that Kenya will be raring to go and ready for the CHAN.

“Ninety per cent of our team were local players, so it wasn’t international players, it was just Mandela, Lenkupae, and Adam, those were the only international players, and these are players that hasn’t played a lot of football this season,” McCarthy told Flashscore.

“So, I just wanted to give them also a bit of game time, and just to get them have some minutes, be part of the group, of the team, and they can also help with the local players, and it worked fantastically because these players. They were very instrumental, they were very key to what we are trying to do. I think now for the boys that are going to play in the CHAN, I just hope that from here, they have just seen the levels that I expect from them.

“They have seen the levels that if we reach the kind of football that we can play, the results that we can have is a lot of good and positive things to look forward to with CHAN coming up. I am excited that the team will be ready, and we will have a nice time with them and then prepare them so that when CHAN comes, the team will be ready and raring to go.

“Our main focus is to bless the country with more victories, more wins, to make them happy.”

Kenya have been pooled in Group A with Morocco, Angola, DR Congo and Zambia.