Kenyan coach Francis Kimanzi said he expected a tough match when they take on Namibia in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Windhoek on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to Namibia Sport at their training session on Friday, Kimanzi said both teams had a lot to prove, but he was hopeful that Kenya could get a good result.
“We have equal expectations as Namibia. It’s a World Cup qualifier and I think it will be a tough match,” he said.
Both teams got off to poor starts in their World Cup campaigns last weekend, with Kenya drawing 0-0 at home to Malawi, while Namibia lost 1-0 away to Nigeria. Due to this, Kimanzi said Saturday’s match would be very important and he expected both teams to come out firing.
“It’s a case of two wounded lions here because Namibia lost their match against Nigeria and we also dropped points at home. When you do that it’s not very positive so that was a disappointing start for us. But that was only the beginning and this is an opportunity for us to do well. If we can give a good performance I think we have a chance for a good result,” he said.
He said he knew a bit about Namibia when they played them four years ago.
“We know a little about Namibia when we played them four years ago so we have some idea about them. We might not know much about their individual players but the playing style at home is normally the same with most countries. We know that if you play at home you always want to play an attacking, open game so that you can at least create more chances than the visiting team,” he said.
Kimanzi said Kenya’s defence was their strong point, especially in last weekend’s game against Malawi.
“We rely mostly on the home based players, and especially in defence we have very good players - that was one of our best aspects of our game against Malawi.”
Kimanzi also highlighted the experience of their captain Dennis Oliech, and their attacking young winger Kevin Kimani.
“Our captain Denis Oliech is a key player; he has very special qualities and he always keeps the opponents’ defence awake. Then we have youngsters like Kevin Kimani who is a new kid on the block who has a lot of qualities on attack. So we’ve got some players who can attack very well from the centre and the wings and that’s very important for a team that is playing away.”
The match kicks off at 18h00 at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium.