Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy has dismissed concerns regarding Kenya’s readiness to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, insisting that the national team’s preparation remains firmly on track.
Speaking amid growing concern over infrastructural timelines, the tactician emphasized that both the government and the federation are working to ensure the Pamoja bid is a success.
When questioned about reports suggesting potential uncertainty regarding Kenya’s hosting status due to stadium preparedness, McCarthy expressed confidence in the efforts behind the scenes and reiterated that the technical bench would not be distracted by outside speculation.
“Oh well, I think I’m sure the Federation and government will be on top of things. Whatever news comes, we just have to keep preparing for the AFCON. We have to prepare the team and make sure that we’re in a good moment. And whatever happens, whatever is being relayed to the team, we’ll deal with whatever news comes.
But I think for now, AFCON is going to go ahead and the preparations are well underway. So I think Kenya is ready for that. I don’t see the AFCON not happening in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.”
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Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy confident Kenya will co-host AFCON 2027
The coach noted that every fixture, including the recent outing in the FIFA Series, serves as a learning point for a team in transition. McCarthy believes that the path to a competitive home tournament in 2027 requires a cycle of trial and error that will eventually result in a refined and formidable side.
“We’re making good steps in the right direction. But I think we always learn from every game.Whether we make a lot of mistakes or we win the match, we try and learn a lot of things. And this game has taught us a lot of things. So now we go back analyze and see where we can improve and where we can be better. So then the next match, you’ll see something different, something better from Kenya.
As long as every match we get better and better, that’s the progression that we want. Because 2027 AFCON is around the corner. By the time we get there, then hopefully we would have made a lot of mistakes and we would have learned from all of them and improved, and now we are the complete team.”
Reflecting on his tenure so far and the progress made since he took the helm, the coach acknowledged that while the squad is still being assembled and integrated, the signs of growth are encouraging.
He pointed to the inclusion of fresh talent like Zech Obiero who provided the assist for the goal and the team’s ability to compete against well-drilled opponents as a testament to their potential.
“We’re still a work in progress but I’m very excited and very happy because we brought in some new players in and they are also just finding their feet. We’ve only been together for like three days and then we had to perform on a stage like this and against an opponent who was very well organized, very well drilled, that’s been together for a much longer time period than we have been.”
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McCarthy has recently been on a mission to convince players with Kenyan roots residing in Europe and other parts of the world to pledge their international allegiance to the Harambee Stars ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
One such inclusion is Obiero who hit the ground running providing the assist for Ryan Ogam’s equalizer against Estonia.