Kimanzi capable of leading Harambee Stars to second straight Afcon – Ex-Sofapaka’s Okoth

Former Sofapaka striker Ronald Okoth has said coach Francis Kimanzi is capable of leading Kenya back to yet another African Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament.

Kimanzi was appointed in 2019 to take the Harambee Stars mantle from Sebastien Migne who failed to help Kenya progress in the African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers before he left.

Migne was in charge of the national team when it successfully fought for a place in the 2019 Afcon and Kimanzi was his assistant.

Kenya are in the process of looking for another slot in the African biennial tournament and Okoth believes the Kenyan Premier League-winning captain is capable of leading the Harambee Stars to Cameroon.

“Kimanzi is a capable coach who can lead us to another Afcon since he is a professional who knows what is expected and how to try and achieve his targets,” Okoth told Goal.

“It can be a huge task as many may want to put it but I know it is a task that Kimanzi can try and meet.”

The retired striker feels his former head coach just needs time to build a competitive team that is capable of mounting a meaningful campaign.

“Looking at almost everything, many factors favour him to take Kenya to Afcon once again. So, it is all about giving him time and see what he has up his sleeves,” he added.

Kenya drew with Egypt and Togo by the same 1-1 scoreline in the first two qualifiers and will face Comoros twice in November.

The former Western Stima and KCB forward also praised Kimanzi for his continued trust on Lawrence Juma, Kenneth Muguna and Samuel Olwande, who feature in the KPL.

“That shows there are players who are given an opportunity and make good use of it completely,” Okoth added. “If Muguna, Juma and Olwande have done a good job then it is proof that what the other players just need is trust and a chance to play.

“It is an encouragement for the player seeing their fellow local-based lads are getting enough time to feature for Harambee Stars. Kimanzi is taking a good step in the right direction and it is a vindication we have got talent in our local competition.”

Gor Mahia’s Muguna assisted Cliff Nyakeya to score the second goal against Zambia which Kenya won 2-1 on Friday.