Understanding our Stars.

With 2 days to the start of CHAN 2024. The tournament will serve as a litmus for Kenya and her neighbors, Tanzania, and, Uganda, for the upcoming 2027 AFCON games. The games will bring a sense of unity, patriotism, and hope to Kenya. A hope for a better tomorrow, a hopeful future to the dreamers in the country from the cradle of mankind in Turkana to the shores of Lake Victoria, from the sandy beaches of Mombasa to the Mount Elgon region, a dream of inawezekana and umoja.

In this piece, we will examine how our national team, Harambee Stars, head coach plans to play and the formulation of the team from a numerical perspective.

Generally, Coach Benni McCarthy went for players who are comfortable on the ball. For this tournament, we can expect a lot of possession-based football from the team. In the heart of defense the coach will take the following players Pamba Swaleh(Bandari), Mike Kibwage(Tusker), Alphonce Omija(Gor Mahia), Sylvester Owino(Gor Mahia).

Of the centre backs, Swaleh Pamba is the most comfortable on the ball, followed by Gor Mahia's duo of Syvester Owino and Alphonce Omija. We should expect a lot of build-ups to start from the back. Manzur Okwaro seems a little bit out of place when compared to the rest of his colleagues in that backline, as he loses 1.5+ balls per 90 under pressure. This will be key for Coach McCarthy, who lays major emphasis on systemic progression from the goalkeeper with low output, the centre backs receiving and looking to play line-breaking passes into the advanced players who receive and turn. With the craze of high blocks now well and truly taking over the African continent, it will be interesting to see how the centre backs react to high-pressure situations, be it from low output by the GK or a backpass.

Players tasked with defending our wide areas are : Kevin Okumu(KCB), Daniel Sakari(Kenya Police) will play on the rightback position on the left. We will have Aboud Omar(Kenya Police) and former Bandari United and now Gor Mahia FC asset Siraj Mohamed, and AFC Leopards utility man Lewis Bandi.

For our right backs, Lewis Bandi is the most comfortable as he received the most balls successfully per 90 with 35+ and losing <2 balls under pressure. For the right back combination, the players appear to be quite solid as they all managed to ‘stay with possession’ as they all lost fewer than 2 times per 90, fitting perfectly to Coach Benin McCarthy’s playbook. Our left backs demonstrate the same characteristics as our full backs as they all lost possession fewer than two times per 90.