McCarthy banks on fast start to navigate Chan group of death

Harambee Stars in training/ HANDOUT 

‎‎Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy has underlined the importance of a flying start as Kenya prepare to open their Africa Nations Championship (Chan) campaign against two-time winners DR Congo on Sunday.‎

‎Drawn in arguably the group of death, Stars will also battle the Atlas Lions of Morocco, who have been to four CHANs (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020), winning it twice (2018, 2020), the Sable Antelopes of Angola, who have been to four CHANs (2011, 2016, 2018, 2022) and the Chipolopolo of Zambia,  who played at the 2009, 2016, 2018 and 2020 editions.

‎‎Stars' second match will be against Angola on August 7, Morocco three days later and conclude their preliminaries against Zambia on August 17.

‎McCarthy views the DR Congo as a platform to set the team up for the rest of the tournament.

‎"We are in a group of death, so if we can get good results against DR Congo, who have won this tournament twice, it will give us more breathing room for Angola and Morocco," McCarthy said.

‎‎"Whether it's CHAN, a World Cup qualifier, or any major tournament, how good you start sets you up for a good tournament."‎

‎Still, the former South Africa international was quick to caution against panic should results not go Kenya’s way on matchday one.‎

‎"But it's not the end of the world if we don't have a good opening game," he said.

‎"Argentina, for example, in the World Cup Qatar, they lost against Saudi Arabia in their first match, which they needed to win, but they went on to win the World Cup. So losing the first match is not the end of the world."

‎Originally scheduled for February, the tournament was postponed due to infrastructure delays in co-hosting nations Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania

‎McCarthy views the disruption as a blessing in disguise.

‎"We were very ready for CHAN six months ago, but when it was delayed, a lot of players had to go back to their teams and play league football," he said.‎

‎"We have had almost a month together, which was enough for us to rekindle the chemistry, give everyone a chance to prepare and get better, and I can say we are now ready."

He will use the remaining days to fine-tune tactics and solidify their approach.

‎"We still have two more days to tweak some things, prepare for (DR) Congo," he observed.

"We are confident the boys will be ready to give a good performance that the Kenyan faithful deserve. We will make it our quest to have one of our best matches on Sunday."