Kenya, as one of the co-host nations of the tournament, have already secured automatic qualification. However, despite the automatic qualification, Harambee Stars will still participate in the qualification campaign alongside the other nations in Group D.
Harambee Stars, who were earlier scheduled to face Palestine and Kyrgyzstan during the FIFA international window, will now take on Lesotho in a two-legged tie.
The revised fixtures will both be played at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa. The first game will be played on Thursday, June 4th, at 4pm (EAT), with the final game set for Sunday, June 7th, also at 4 (EAT).
McCarthy has unveiled the Kenya squad for the matches with notable inclusions, including five new call-ups handed an opportunity at the senior national team level.
Defender Deon Woodman (Wealdstone FC), winger Sammy Hena-Kamau (Hull City), forward Micah Obiero (Wealdstone FC), defender Sydney Agina (Stoke City) and goalkeeper Caleb Kramer (ADO Den Haag) have all earned places in the squad.
Kenya to gauge new players
“The friendly matches came in at a good time because the season has just finished, and we have a lot of new Kenyan-based players that play abroad that we haven’t had our opportunity to watch them, unfortunately,” McCarthy told Flashscore.
“Now this gives us a good indication to see the levels, and the quality they have compared to previous teams that we have had, then you know I have added more to the potential of the team, and by the time September comes for the AFCON qualification matches, we will be ready.”
“You see the group that we have, South Africa (laughs), Guinea, and Eritrea, I think we have to be ready even though we have already qualified, we deserve to be there because of the quality that we want to have in the group stages.
“So, yeah, this is a good opportunity for us to check a lot of them, and the best thing about it, everybody is U-25, so, we have a very young squad, and that is what we want, good quality, top young players that can represent Kenya.
“By doing so, there is some continuity, even the day we want to leave this national team, we will leave a good young crop of players, and even more young players coming through to the ranks as well, so that is the purpose of these two friendly matches.”
On the quality of the new players after the first training session, the South African legend said: “I never have a single problem with the players that have been coming in. Discipline has been really good, the work ethics, the mentality, the mindset they have, they always give everything.
“So, that is what you want as a coach, that is what you want to see, the progression of this national team is getting better and better as time goes by, and the main is by the time the AFCON gets closer, we want to be able to compete against top teams, the likes of Senegal, and give a better account of ourselves, than the last time we faced them.
“We felt that we were so far, far behind, in terms of quality, but that is why you see all these young players, and this is an inspiring message to those young players playing in the Kenyan league.”
McCarthy bemoans injuries
On how ready Kenya is ahead of the AFCON qualifiers, McCarthy responded: “You know we aren’t too far from where we want to be. The best comparison we can probably give is now our last international match we played in Rwanda against Estonia, and Grenada.
“Estonia national team were playing in the World Cup qualifiers against Italy, against Norway, and I think even though they didn’t qualify, they left a really good account of themselves. They showed the quality, and the levels they were at.
“I think we were incredibly good against them, we drew, which I felt we were undone by because I thought we were the better team on the day, but unfortunately we lost penalties, and that showed the level Kenya is able to lift themselves up, so, I will say we are three quarters close to where we want to be.”
McCarthy concluded: “To make the full circle, we are still missing that last bit because we have got so many injuries. ‘Marcelo’ is coming back now from injury, Amos, we have integrated into the squad as well because he is also injured.
“We have Michael (Olunga) who is yet to come back from injury, Jonah Ayunga, Daniel Ayembe. You know we are missing many top players that can come and still strengthen this team, even more than what it is, and I think once we are at full strength and at full potential, we have something to be optimistic about during the AFCON.”
A total of 48 nations will compete in the qualifiers, with 24 teams set to feature at the final tournament.
