- Anthony Akumu is part of the Harambee Stars squad that will play the opening two qualifying matches this month.
- He missed the 2019 AFCON edition which was held in Egypt.
- Akumu identifies the potential of the players to improve as one of the reasons Harambee Stars could qualify for the 2025 AFCON tournament.
Experienced Harambee Stars defensive midfielder Anthony Akumu has expressed confidence in the men’s national football team booking a ticket to the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament set to be held in Morocco.
Harambee Stars, who will be seeking to make their seventh appearance at an AFCON tournament, have been placed in Group J alongside Namibia, Zimbabwe and West African heavyweights Cameroon.
According to Akumu who is yet to feature in an AFCON tournament, Harambee Stars is capable of qualifying for the continental showpiece due to the backing the team continues to receive from different stakeholders.
The 31-year-old also identified the quality of players and their potential to improve as the other reasons that could see the team secure a ticket to the continental tournament having missed the 2021 and 2023 editions held in Cameroon and Ivory Coast respectively.
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“Personally, I missed the chance to feature in the 2019 AFCON and I feel we have a very big chance of qualifying this time.
It is not even about the group but our team Kenya. We have good players and support from everywhere. We have fans who love the team, and I feel if we up our game a little bit, we will qualify,” he explained.
The 31-year-old, who currently plays for Iranian-based club Kheybar Khorramabad in the Persian Gulf Pro League, was part of the Harambee Stars preliminary squad selected for the 2019 edition hosted in Egypt but was later omitted by the then head coach Sebastien Migne.
Ahead of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers, Akumu has proved to be a key part of Engin Firat’s squad that is set to play in the opening two qualifying matches this month.
Anthony Akumu in a past Harambee Stars match
Kenya is scheduled to open their qualifying campaign on September 6 against Zimbabwe at the Mandela National Stadium in Kampala, Uganda.
The team is then expected to battle it out with Namibia at the Orlando Stadium in South Africa on Tuesday, September 10.
Akumu has previously featured for several top clubs in the continent including South African side Kaizer Chiefs, record Kenya Premier League champions Gor Mahia and Zambia’s Zesco United.
Kenya have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) a total of six times as of 2023. The tournaments they participated in are: 1972 in Cameroon, 1988 in Morocco, 1990 in Algeria, 1992 in Senegal, 2004 in Tunisia and 2019 in Egypt
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