New Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy believes Kenya can still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup that will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

The 47-year-old was officially unveiled as the new coach after signing a contract that will run until the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

McCarthy’s first assignment will be the World Cup qualifying matches against the Gambia away on March 17th and the home game against Gabon on March 24th.

Kenya kicked off their qualification campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Gabon, recovered to beat Seychelles 5-0, drew 1-1 against Burundi, and secured a vital 0-0 draw against African champions Ivory Coast.

As it stands, Kenya is lying fourth in Group F with five points, five less than leaders Ivory Coast, while Gabon is second with nine points and Burundi third with seven points.

Speaking on Kenya’s chances to qualify, the former Bafana Bafana striker stated that he had not lost hope, insisting that anything was possible for the East African nation to qualify and grace the global competition for the first time in their history.

“It is not about where the team is at the moment, there are so many games left to play, Kenya have only played four matches, they are not far behind, Ivory Coast are topping and Gabon are second, but like I said, we have two games to try change players’ mindset,” McCarthy told Flashscore after the unveiling ceremony.

“It is possible that with the players in the team, if we win two games, we go to eleven points and we move close to the top, I have not lost hope, even though it looks like it is not possible, nothing is impossible, come at the end of the qualifiers, we could be close to topple Ivory Coast, and we are very positive to achieve that.”

Kenya will co-host the 2024 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) alongside Uganda and Tanzania and asked his targets for the tournament, McCarthy, whose last stint was the assistant coach at Manchester United, said: “We want to win every point that is available to us, I am not saying it is going to be easy, but with the quality of players we have, we can achieve it.

“We have to be positive, and the players must see that; the players must see that the coaches that have been unveiled are winners; they want to win every game.”

McCarthy continued: “For the 2024 CHAN, the tournament is in Kenya and we want to showcase our skills and make a good account of ourselves, and we want to succeed, not to be failures, we want to do well, we want to reach the semi-finals and even reach the final, I know with hard work, it is very possible.”

On what he wants to achieve with Harambee Stars, he said: “I want to make Kenya the best team that East Africa has ever seen before. I strongly feel that if we can fix the national team, then Kenya will go far. For me, it is about passion in people’s faces, and that means they really love the country, and so far, the national team has not produced what they want.