Kenya hit camp ahead of 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers

Harambee Stars on Sunday started their training sessions ahead of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers that start this week.

All the local-based players named in the 28 provisional man squad trained on Sunday at Kasarani Annex together with some of the foreign based who have arrived among them Nabi Kibunguchy (Orlando City), Duncan Otieno (Gaborone United), Teddy Akumu (Sagan Tosu), Duke Abuya (Singida), Ayub Masika (Nanjing City), Timothy Ouma (Elfsborg) Masud Juma (Al Faisaly) and Michael Olunga (Al Duhail).

The foreign based players expected on Tuesday are Richard Odada (Aalborg), Eric Johana (UTAD ARAD),  Amos Nondi (Ararat), Johnston Omurwa (CF Estrela), Eric Marcelo (AIK), Joseph Okumu (Reins)  and Alfred Scriven (Hodd).

“Most of the players have arrived and we shall have a full camp by Tuesday. Only Daniel Anyembe will not hit camp because he is currently injured and thus unavailable,” said FKF Communications officer Ian Muyumba.

Kenya will play Gabon in their opening Group "F" contest on Thursday before facing Seychelles next Monday. Ivory Coast, Burundi and Gambia are other countries in the group.

The group winners will join the other eight winners in sealing automatic qualification to the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.

The four best group runners-up in all the nine groups will also compete in a play-off stage to determine Caf’s representative to the inter-confederation play-offs.

The global showpiece will have 48 teams up from the usual 32.

The national team will leave on Wednesday at 8.30am via a chartered flight to Libreville, Gabon, a journey which will take four hours and 30 minutes. Harambee Stars players will then train in the evening before facing Gabon on Thursday at 7pm.

After the game against Gabon, Stars will have a recovery session then leave on Friday at noon for Abidjan, Ivory Coast at 1pm. They will then have ample time to train on Saturday, Sunday before playing Seychelles on Monday.

Seychelles are set to play Kenya at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan because its Unity Stadium has not been approved by Caf to host the World Cup Qualifiers.

Seychelles will play Ivory Coast at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe on Friday. Gabon are ranked 86th, while Seychelles are at position 195 in the latest Fifa rankings.

Kenya dropped to 110th position. Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat is on Monday expected to address a presser where he will give an update on the preparations of the team ahead of the two crucial qualifiers.

Firat is expected to announce his 23-man squad for the two matches on Tuesday evening, meaning he will drop five players from the 28 he had named on Thursday last week.