This archive report was first published on 26 July 2019.
On February 19, 2019, Harambee Stars held their first training session of the year at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, ahead of the AFCON and CHAN assignments.
Fast forward to the 2020 African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers, Harambee Stars defender Michael Kibwage believes there will be plenty at stake when the national team locks horns with Tanzania's Taifa Stars in Sunday's crunch first leg tie in Dar es Salaam.
Kenya will be seeking to complete a double over Taifa Stars, having beaten them 3-2 during the AFCON cum East African derby in Cairo just a month ago.
However, unlike Tanzania, who have retained a majority of their AFCON squad, Kenya has only six players who were in Egypt, including goalkeeper John Oyemba, Philemon Otieno, Joash Otieno, Bernard Ochieng, Dennis Odhiambo, and John Avire.
Despite the challenges, Kibwage is prepared for a difficult match at the 'intimidating' National Stadium, saying, 'The attitude is good and morale is high. We all know what is at stake here. Just like any other derby, this will not be an easy match. Tanzania will definitely be out for revenge, but for us, our aim is to get a positive result and make things easy for ourselves in the return leg.'
On the other hand, newly-appointed interim Taifa Stars coach Etienne Ndayiragije is optimistic that his team will redeem themselves, saying, 'Every game is tough. This is the game that we need to win, it's a knockout, if you lose you are out, we cannot afford that. We know that Kenya is a good team but we will play well to win and ease the pressure for the return leg.'
