Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has reiterated his desire to seal World Cup qualification even as the government looks for success on the continent as well.
Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy remains committed to ensuring Kenya qualifies for the 2026 World Cup even as the government also wants him to achieve success on the continent.
McCarthy was appointed on Monday and had a meeting with Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya on Tuesday, who outlined what the government expects from him, during his two-year reign that will take him up to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations which will be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Mvurya is looking at success in both the 2024 African Nations Championships as well as AFCON 2027 on home soil.
“We began reforms in the federation and we are happy that in the federation we have very good leadership and now we are ready to welcome the technical bench led by Benni McCarthy,” said Mvurya.
Incoming Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy will get to work with the man he had selected as assistant after his current cut ties with him.
“Benni is a highly experienced striker who has played in the world, here in Africa, Premier League and many other clubs in Europe.
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“He is highly qualified to lead the technical bench and Harambee Stars. As I welcome him to Kenya and Harambee Stars, we are very confident that we have the right man to lead the technical bench.
“Already looking forward to Kenya qualifying for the World Cup and also being an impactful team in CHAN where we would like to host and win and also Africa Cup of Nations in Kenya and to win.”
While McCarthy acknowledges the importance of winning CHAN, his main target remains World Cup qualification even though Kenya find themselves in a difficult position currently, occupying fourth spot with five points from four matches.
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Ivory Coast lead with 10 points followed by Gabon on nine while Burundi have seven, with six matches still to play.
“We are here to work extremely hard for the Kenyan faithful, fans, government and federation. We want to make them proud of the national team,” said McCarthy.
“We are hosting CHAN and we want to portray a really good tournament and we are in it to win it. We want to win it because it is on our home soil but we have very important qualification matches happening and that is our main aim now.
“Because we feel that we have the quality and players to play and get the best results for the country so that we see Kenya as part of the USA 2026 World Cup and part of this spectacular event that will happen.
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Justin Gatlin has paid homeage to Usain Bolt for reviving his sprinting career after getting back into the sport in 2010.
“That is our main focus and aim to work extremely hard to qualify and we have full support from the federation and government.”
McCarthy will know if his team are ready for the big ambitions he has set for them when they face the Gambia and Gabon in the World Cup qualifiers on March 17 and 24.