Harambee Stars will play two friendly matches in Antalya, Turkey. Kenya will first come up against Equatorial Guinea on November 14th at the Emir Complex Stadium, before taking on Senegal on November 18th at the Mardan Sports Complex.
Kenya were earlier slated to face Madagascar on November 14th, before taking on Comoros four days later in Turkey. However, the fixtures were adjusted with Harambee Stars now set to face Sadio Mane.
While naming the squad for the build-up matches, coach Benni McCarthy omitted the name of Olunga. His omission drew a lot of reactions amongst Kenyans, who wondered why a fit Olunga was being left out.
The towering Olunga currently has a personal goal to achieve with the Harambee Stars. With 34 goals for the national team, he is just one goal shy of the record held by William Ouma. His inclusion in the squad, could have given him a good opportunity to break the mark.
Olunga was given a little time off
On the key players set to miss the two friendly matches, Manousakis said: “Vincent Harper, Manzour Suleiman, Timothy Ouma, Job Ochieng, and Adam Wilson, those are all really niggles injuries, tight congestion of fixtures in their domestic leagues.
“We also gave some guys a little time off, Collins Shichenje, and of course skipper Michal Olunga, so that was the thinking behind their names missing out, I know when you look over those players that are stepping up, we had to refresh the team, and suddenly have done it with a crop of youngsters.”
Asked to explain the reason behind several omissions to the squad, he said: “We needed to freshen things up, some of those changes there have been a lot of niggles, a lot of injuries, Adam Wilson, and Job Ochieng, and who else… a little bit of Manzour Suleiman to protect him, Vincent Harper, Timothy Ouma, once I start going through all those players, you know we are a little bit off the back foot.
“But it is a good opportunity for the boys coming in with absolutely no pressure, because it is friendly, and it gives them a test of playing senior football against some of the best opponents on the continent, so that is the objective, to give them a test, and see how they respond.”
Kenya will take different approach in friendlies
On coming up against Senegal, and Equatorial Guinea, he said: “We will face very strong opponents that are preparing for AFCON, so we definitely have our work cut out, we are taking a very different approach while they are focusing on AFCON, we will be focusing on development of a new crop of players.
“There is some really good crop of local players, who keep performing week in, and week out, we wish we could have picked a couple more, you know we have really some players on form at the moment.
“It is almost a new look Kenya national team for this upcoming friendlies, and that is what it is all about, I think we try to win every game that we play, and we know it is going to be difficult, but that is what the approach is.
“The approach is to win the games, and at the same time under difficult circumstances, with the opposition we gonna face, this boys will grow, and that is pretty much the objective of the trip to Turkey.”
He concluded: “We wanted to play two fixtures this window, we wanted to give everybody a chance, and I am certain we will do that, the two friendlies will really test our boys against the best teams in Africa, and not only in Africa but the entire world.”
On why McCarthy missed the final training session before the team departed for Turkey, the South African trainer explained: “The coach was waiting for his passport, he was renewing his passport, and he has it now, we will meet in Turkey that was the only reason, there was nothing else.”
The two build up matches come just a month after Kenya played their last 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Burundi and Ivory Coast. Harambee Stars defeated the Swallows of Burundi 1-0 away before losing 3-0 against the African champions.
