Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya has thrown his weight behind newly appointed Harambee Stars head coach Benny McCarthy, tipping the South African to steer Kenya to unprecedented heights.
Football Kenya Federation FKF unveiled McCarthy on Monday, marking a new era for the national team.
The former Bafana Bafana forward, who previously served as an assistant coach at English Premier League giants Manchester United, takes charge of Kenya's World Cup qualification campaign and the upcoming African Nations Championship (Chan).
Joining McCarthy's technical bench on two-year deals are assistant coach Asili Manousakis, goalkeeper trainer Moeneeb Josephs and performance analyst Pilela Maposa.
On Tuesday, McCarthy met Mvurya at Talanta Hela Plaza, where the CS expressed confidence in his ability to transform the national team's fortunes. “As we welcome him (McCarthy) to the Harambee Stars and Kenya, we are very confident we have the right man to lead the technical bench.
We are looking forward to Kenya qualifying for the World Cup and also being an impactful team in the Chan,” Mvurya noted.
The CS hailed McCarthy's pedigree both as a player and a coach, backing him to bring a winning mentality to Harambee Stars.
“McCarthy is a highly experienced former striker who has played in the Premier League among other clubs in Europe and the World up. He is highly qualified to lead the technical bench of Harambee Stars,” he added.
The government, he noted, has been working closely with FKF to lay a strong foundation for football development.
“We believe that Kenya has big talent, especially in football. Over the last year, we have been carrying out reforms. We began reforms in the federation, and we are happy we have good leadership in the federation,” he stated.
McCarthy vowed to make Kenyan fans proud and set his sights on delivering silverware.
“We are here to work extremely hard for the Kenyan faithful, the fans and the federation. We want to make them proud of the national team and being Kenyan,” he said.
With the Chan set for home soil, McCarthy made his ambitions clear.
“We want to qualify for so many things. We will also be hosting the Chan, and we want to have a good tournament. We are in it to win it.”
“We want to win it because it is on our
home soil. We want to start with the two
major qualification matches coming, and
that is our main focus,” he noted
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