Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy is confident Kenya can hold their own against some of the continent’s more experienced sides when they begin their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign this weekend.
Kenya have been drawn in Group D alongside South Africa, Guinea and Eritrea, setting up a challenging qualifying campaign for McCarthy and his charges.
The Harambee Stars will begin their campaign on Saturday, September 26 when they host Eritrea at Nyayo National Stadium. They will then travel to Guinea on October 1 for their second Group D fixture.
Although Kenya have already secured their place at the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations as one of the three co-hosts alongside Uganda and Tanzania they will still participate in the qualification campaign.
McCarthy, who knows South African football inside out, having been born in South Africa and holding the Bafana Bafana all-time scoring record acknowledges the difficulty of the group but believes Kenya have gained valuable experience from facing stronger opposition in recent international assignments.
“It’s going to be difficult because South Africa has always been seen as a Class A category. They are always in the group of the likes of Morocco, Senegal, so they get to be drawn with teams like Kenya and the lower end, so that will be very difficult,” McCarthy said.
The former South Africa international also singled out Guinea as another major challenge, pointing to the quality and experience within their squad.
“I think Guinea also, they have got superpower players, Guirassy, they’ve got a strong team. They are established and they’ve participated in major tournaments more than us and they’ve got more experience,” he added.
Despite the difficult opposition, McCarthy believes Harambee Stars have shown enough in recent competitions to suggest they can compete at this level.
Kenya have faced several highly regarded teams during their recent assignments, including Ivory Coast, Gabon and the likes of Burundi. While those matches did not always produce victories, McCarthy feels the experience gained from those encounters will be important as the team tackles the Group D campaign.
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“But like I said, from what we experienced in CHAN and the World Cup Qualifiers, we’ve played teams like Ivory Coast, we’ve played teams like Gabon, we’ve played teams like Burundi where it was very hostile and we held our ground,” the coach said.
“It was valuable experience that we gained. Yes, it might not have been wins that we’ve got, but I think from where we started to where we finished when we played against these teams, it was no disgrace.”
The coach is also counting on Kenya’s home advantage, particularly the support the team has received from fans whenever Harambee Stars have played on home soil.
“If we can do that against those teams, I think against the teams in our group we can have a reasonable chance,” McCarthy said.
“When we play at home I think the confidence in the team is high and the fans have been unbelievable so far. Every single time we play in Kenya it’s been incredible. I think that will always give us an advantage because we play at home and then when we go away anything can happen.”
After their opening match against Eritrea, Kenya will face Guinea away on October 1 before meeting South Africa twice in November, first away and then at home. The remaining two fixtures will come in March 2027, with Harambee Stars travelling to Eritrea before hosting Guinea.
The 2027 AFCON finals will be staged in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania from June 19 to July 17, 2027.
For McCarthy and Harambee Stars, however, the immediate focus is on making a strong start against Eritrea at Nyayo before turning their attention to Guinea and the other challenges that await in Group D.