Harambee Stars head coach Sebastian Migne believes that he has enough homegrown talent in his squad to put on a great show in the Africa Nations Championships qualifier against Tanzania.
Migne was speaking over the weekend as the Kenya national team reported to camp at the Kasarani Stadium ahead of the first leg on Sunday, 28 July at the Main National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Out of the 27 players in the squad, 23 have reported to camp where they held their first training session on Sunday afternoon.
“We have young local players in the squad so we know that we will be able to compete and put on a good show,” Migne told Sportpesa News.
“First we need to beat Tanzania which is a tricky test and it will be 50/50 but we just need to show that we are capable.”
Kenya battled to beat Tanzania 3-2 in the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations finals in Egypt, inspired by a brace from Japanese-based striker Michael Olunga.
The 10 Tanzanian players who kept their positions are goalkeeper Aishi Manula, Metacha Mnata, David Mwantika, Kelvin Yondani, Erasto Nyoni, Yahya Mudatiri, John Bocco, Feisal Salum, Frank Domayo and Gadiel Michael.
Whilst, Kariobangi Sharks goalkeeper John Oyemba, Gor Mahia FC defensive duo of Philemon Otieno and Joash Onyango plus Paul Were and Sofapaka’s John Avire are the only Kenyans in the CHAN squad who were in Egypt.
“Of course, it’s going to be tough against Tanzania. Most of the players they had at AFCON were locally based and more experienced. We are working on building team spirit and I am confident that we will do well.
“It’s just the beginning of the camp and we have time to figure out what we need to do to ensure that we make the fans proud.”
The second leg will be played at the Kasarani Stadium on Sunday, 4 August with the aggregate winner facing off against Sudan in the final qualifying round, to be played on a date set to be announced in due course.
