Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy admits that his side will have a tough test on their hands when they take on The Ivory Coast tomorrow in their final Group F 2026 World Cup Qualifiers at the Ouattara Stadium in Northern Abidjan Tuesday evening.
The math is simple as concerns their trip this week to the West African country. The Ivorians need a win to ensure their place at the World Cup. The Harambee Stars at most can act as spoilers for the West Africans, which might hand their rivals Gabon an advantage as they need a win to be able to qualify for the World Cup themselves.
With 23 points, the Ivorians lead Gabon, who have 22, with just a point as they seek a direct ticket to the World Cup. Gabon play Burundi in their final clash in Nairobi Tuesday.
Speaking ahead of Kenya’s last set of qualifiers, Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy expressed that his side will not do the Ivorians any favours, particularly with the Ivorians needing the victory.
“It is World Cup qualifiers, it is opportunity for us to try and collect maximum points, but we know what is at stake as well, and we know that it’s us going into the lion’s Den because for Ivory Coast a win will definitely secure them automatic qualification for the World Cup,” McCarthy said.
“We know we are not there to do favours for anyone, so for us we are going there to play a match against a team that we want to win, we want three points, and that is our task, our objective, and for us to lose, we have to lose to a team that we knew, we had no opportunities, no possibilities of winning the game, that is the only way.”
With two successive wins over the Seychelles and Burundi in the bag, the idea is for McCarthy to take his side and his team to the next level, and he believes that it must begin with a competent display against the Ivorians, who are considered amongst the best sides in the world.
Ivory Coast approach this fixture with a clean bill of health, having come through the previous game unscathed and without any bookings, meaning no suspensions to worry about.
The Elephants had seven different scorers against Seychelles, including goals off the bench from Franck Kessie and Simon Adingra, but it remains to be seen if that will be enough to earn both players a place in the lineup here, given that seven of the starters in that encounter had at least one goal contribution.
As a result, it would not be surprising to see a similar setup and personnel to the 4-4-2 formation deployed last time out, with Evann Guessand and Oumar Diakite likely to lead the line once again.
Right-back Rooney Onyango is meant to serve a one-match suspension after picking up his second booking of the campaign — having also been cautioned on matchday six against Gabon. Meanwhile goalkeeper Brian Bwire’s availability remains doubtful after being forced off early last time out, meaning Byrne Omondi could start in goal.
Forward Ryan Ogam is pushing for a start after coming off the bench to score the winner against Burundi, while captain Michael Olunga is expected to spearhead the attack as he looks to add to his six goals in the campaign.