Cabinet Secretary of Sports Kipchumba Murkomen has urged Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat to consider integrating members of the national under-20 team into the senior team set-up for future international assignments.
The minister hosted the team for breakfast and offered them a cash reward of Sh 1.8 million for finishing second at the regional competition that ended on Sunday in Tanzania where they also booked a ticket to the Under 20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), praised a number of players in the junior team and said they had what it takes to fight for a slot in the senior team.
“You are the future of Kenyan football as can be seen from the recent media analyses and social media comments. Our coach of the senior team should start integrating some of you into Harambee Stars. We have seen Yamine Lamal at 16 years leading Spain to success at the Euros where he scored a goal and four assists. I believe many of you can do the same for our national team,” the CS said.
Murkomen, however, advised the youngsters to keep their feet firmly on the ground and focus on becoming the best versions of themselves.
“I would like to advise you to remain grounded and focused and if you do so, some of you could be representing the senior team as early as next year. You are the players who will be playing for Kenya at the 2027 Afcon. Just imagine yourselves playing at the 60,000-seater Talanta Stadium,” he said.
The youngsters lost 2-1 to Tanzania in Sunday’s final, albeit by then they had secured their slot as one of 12 teams at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations Under 20 – possibly in South Africa.
Murkomen said the government will expend all resources possible to ensure the team prepare well for their continental debut.
“We will support you to go for residential camp outside the country and play friendly matches against big teams around the world. Mr Amimo (FKF director in charge of youth committee), just ensure the budget presented is reasonable,” he said.
Speaking at the same time, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) director of youth Chris Amimo, appealed for government support to enable Rising Stars prepare at par with the giants of the continent.
“Afcon will be a good opportunity to market these players. We will need good preparations in a country near to where the tournament will be hosted, which is possibly South Africa. We need to expand the technical bench to bring in experts in other aspects of team preparations, just like the best teams in Africa,” he said.
Amimo noted that longevity and continuity were the two ingredients to the success of the side, most players having joined it at the under-13 level.
“We started working with most of these players when they were 13 years old…all the way to Under 15, Under 18 and then Under 20. We need to continue and emulate this strategy if we are to have a conveyor of talent across the country,” he said.
The team were awarded Ksh 1.8 million for this historic feat.
The Salim Babu-coached team will be dreaming of bigger things at the continental stage where the top four finishers will qualify for the Under 20 World Cup in Chile in September next year.
