Gambia coach Mckinstry expects Harambee Stars to play attacking football

The Gambia coach Jonathan Mckinstry expects to see attacking football from the national team Harambee Stars when the two teams face each other in a World Cup qualifier in Abidjan Ivory Coast tonight.

The two sides meet in an important clash as they both seek a place in the inter-continental showpiece which will be held in the Americas. They both need points.

Group leaders Ivory Coast leading the way with 10 points in Group F. Gabon and Burundi sit second and third with nine and seven points respectively, while Kenya sits just above The Gambia in fourth place with five points. The Gambia have three.

McKinstry believes that the appointment of former Cape Town City coach McCarthy is a positive one and he thus expects Kenya to play an attacking brand of football going forward.

“It’s a new era in Kenyan Football,” McKinstry told Supersport.

“Benni has obviously taken over recently and, historically, Benni’s teams, if you look at his team’s in South Africa whether it was AmaZulu, whether it was Cape Town City, his teams have historically wanted to press more, wanted to be more attacking, he was obviously an incredible footballer himself," he added.

Gambia have summoned 24 players for their next qualifying assignments and will rely on the European experience of both Musa Barrow and Yankuba. Also, Musa Dibaga, Saikou Touray and Gibril Sillah have joined the Gambia side as uncapped players.

The Harambee Stars have a lightly reduced team for their upcoming qualifiers, with only 22 players making the final cut.

Their squad also includes Michael Olunga, who is five goals away from becoming his nation’s all-time leading scorer (35).

This will be the first meeting between Gambia and Kenya. The match will kick off at 10 PM East African time.