Abud Omar hopeful CHAN will open doors for Kenyan players
By Luke Oluoch, August 9, 2025Harambee Stars skipper Abud Omar has challenged his national teammates to fully exploit the opportunities presented by the 2024 African Nations Championship games and secure moves to the paid ranks.
Speaking on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Nairobi, Omar expressed optimism that the national team stars will once again grab the chance to impress with a good showing as they seek to develop their individual careers too.
“CHAN is a good opportunity for all local-based players. After the tournament, I believe they will have an opportunity to feature in the high levels. They know about this, and we need to improve on our game if we are to stand the chance to better our future by playing in a better league on higher levels,” he stated.
Omar also voiced the need to register a positive result as Kenya seeks to extend their fine start to the season further against the two-time CHAN champions.
The clash against the North Africans, who opened their campaign on a winning note against Angola, is set to further test Kenya’s resolve after Benni McCarthy’s team picked up a win and a draw in the opening matches.
“For the last two games we did our best. We hope tomorrow we do better in our quest to qualify for the second round,” he stated.
Meanwhile, speaking on the test against the two-time CHAN winners, coach Benni McCarthy stated that his charges will have to be alert during the third Group A clash on Sunday.
McCarthy maintained that he is fully aware of his rival’s threats as a counterattacking side.
“Morocco is a very unpredictable team with a strong national team. They always take the game to you early and will always invite you to attack and hope to beat you on the counter,” he said.
The coach, who has kept an astute defensive shape so far in the games, once again hinted at exploiting a similar game plan in the decisive clash.
Game plan
“For us it is about being prepared and sticking to our instructions. We hope our organisation will be good and make it difficult for them,” he stated.
“If we can keep our discipline and defence and midfield line tight, we will get opportunities too, and if we can be clinical, we can make them change their game plan. It will, however, demand for us to be disciplined from minute one,” he stated.