Harambee Stars interim assistant coach John Kamau has laid out what Kenya must do if they have to get out of their tough CHAN 2024 group that also has Morocco, DR Congo, Angola and Zambia.
Harambee Stars interim assistant coach John Kamau feels Kenya needs to have at least eight training sessions every month and build a good character in the squad to be able to compete at the 2024 African Nations Championships (CHAN 2024).
Kenya landed in a tough Pool A that has two-time winners Morocco and DR Congo, Zambia and Angola during the tournament’s draw conducted on Wednesday and it will be a tall order to get out of the group.
However, Kamau believes it is still possible for Kenya to pull off surprises but that will only happen if they take advantage of the postponement of the kick off date from February to August and put everything they require in order.
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“Let us not wait until it is too late and also don’t give the players and technical bench excuses,” Kamau said after the draw.
“Just put everything in order and we will give a good account of ourselves because this is a platform for the players and technical team to showcase what they have and I think we have what it takes.
“We have 80 per cent of local players ready but we also need to get the 20 per cent and to do that, we need like eight training sessions monthly then everything will be in place.”
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Kamau also weighed in on the importance of having a strong mentality amongst the players, crediting the Mapinduzi Cup, recently held in Zanzibar, for helping improve their character although he feels they still need a lot more.
“One objective of the tournament (Mapinduzi Cup) was to assemble a team and we did that and also it did challenge us to know if the players have the mentality to be in that kind of tournament and I think we are happy with what we saw,” added Kamau.
“These are high-profile matches, CHAN will be a tournament where almost the whole of Africa is and for such a tournament, it is not just the technical and tactical aspect, you also need to have character because in most cases, we are meeting players who are not so exposed outside of their country.
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“I think our football trajectory is too low and I think we should build on that. When you get these players in our league, you think they are good but also the mental aspect has been wanting because our league is not competitive.”