Kenya’s Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat believes they have little hopes to make it to the 2026 Fifa World Cup finals to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico after learning of the draw conducted on Thursday in Ivory Coast.
During the draw, Kenya who will be making a return to Caf and Fifa competitions after the world governing body lifted an indefinite ban slapped on them for alleged government interference, will be in Group F alongside Ivory Coast, Gabon, Gambia, Burundi, and Seychelles.
Speaking on Kenya’s chances to qualify for their first-ever World Cup tournament in history, the 53-year-old Turkish tactician said as quoted by Nation Sports: “I think it is an open group and will be decided on details and well organization more so for us if we sort out our financial problems,” adding: “We are not favourites as some people are trying to say but our aim is to make history. We shall try our best but there is no guarantee. We will just do our best even if our chances are not so high.”
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Firat, however, maintained his stand of using upcoming players insisting there is no difference between local and foreign players.
“We had 15 local players in our last friendly. I have given Timothy Ouma, 17, and Moses Shumah, 19, chances in my tenure,” he said, adding: “There is no difference between local and foreign players and now we have to focus on official matches and the number of new players will go down.”
During the draw, attended by a galaxy of African legends led by Nigeria’s Jay-Jay Okocha, the Super Eagles were pooled in Group C alongside South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Lesotho while Ghana were drawn in Group I alongside Mali, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Comoros, and Chad.
Tanzania will take on Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Niger, and Eritrea in Group E while Cameroon were pooled in Group D alongside Cape Verde, Angola, Libya, Eswatini, and Mauritius. Kenya neighbours Uganda will confront Algeria, Guinea, Mozambique, Botswana, and Somalia in Group G while Senegal are in Group B alongside DR Congo, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, and South Sudan.
Winners of each Group will automatically qualify for the Fifa World Cup 2026. The four best runners-up (from the Groups) will play in a Caf playoff tournament. The winner of the Caf play-off tournament will play in the Fifa play-off tournament.