Toughest game yet? Harambee Stars seek to defend home territory against fancied Morocco
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Reading Time: 3min | Sun. 10.08.25. | 08:25
The two nations have met five times, with the Atlas Lions winning thrice, but failing to win on Kenyan soil
Kenya men’s national football team, Harambee Stars, will look to keep up their positive start to the home 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) when they square up against tournament favourites Morocco in a key Group A fixture at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, from 1500 EAT.
Stars, though making their debut in the competition this year, lead their group with four points, courtesy of a historic 1–0 win over DR Congo last Sunday and a heroic performance against regulars Angola on Thursday, 7 August, which saw the ten-man hosts fight back from an early deficit to draw 1–1.
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From those highs, Benni McCarthy’s side now stare down at another mouth-watering contest, which pits them against the joint most successful nations in the CHAN tournament, and one of the teams many expect to go all the way to bagging a third championship.
It's match day! Kick off time 3pmTupatane Kasarani tushabikie @Harambee__Stars #TeamKenya #JazaStadii #CHAN2024 #TotalEnergiesCHAN2024 pic.twitter.com/zY128CleSJ
— Min. of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy & Sports (@moyasa_ke) August 10, 2025
On top of that, Morocco, under coach Tarik Sektioui, are in their sixth appearance of the competition, and come in with a seven-day rest, as compared to Harambee Stars, who only had to settle on one pitch training session following their Angola stalemate.
“Hopefully the team will be ready after the game on Thursday night,” McCarthy said on Saturday, 9 August while previewing Sunday’s match. “It was very tough, but I hope we will take some positives from it - the resilience and good characteristics that I learnt about my team and I am extremely proud of.”
Likening Morocco’s match-up to a Comrades marathon, McCarthy expects another rough day on the touchline, against a team he believes are the strongest in the competition.
“From my point of view, they are probably the strongest team in this group, but also in the competition,” McCarthy said. “They are a very unpredictable team. Their league, I think, speaks for itself - very competitive, and one of the best in Africa, who have lots of quality be it locally or internationally.
For us we need to be really organized, best prepared as we possibly can, because as good as they can be, once you organize and stick to instructions and get your tactics right, the best teams in the world struggle when you do that and that is what we hope will happen tomorrow.”
Having mastered opposing team’s tendencies spot on so far this tournament, McCarthy expects Morocco to come out of the blocks quickly in search of a goal, before “calming down and sucking you in a low block so that they can hit you on the counter.”
“I think if we can contain them and keep them at bay in the early stages then we will give ourselves a fighting chance,” the South African added.
Having had the benefit of squaring up and being a former teammate of Moroccan Sektioui, there are a few hints of how the North Africans will approach the game.
“He was a former teammate of mine at FC Porto when he was an attacking forward on the wings, really good, really adventurous, so I think he sets his team up exactly the manner the kind of player he was,” McCarthy said. “He is very tactically astute, and I know they are going to go for it.”
The matchup will present Kenya’s sixth meeting against the Atlas Lions.
On head-to-head, Morocco remains unbeaten, having won thrice, and drawn twice.
However, Harambee Stars hold the tag of being unbeaten at home, having forced out the two draws at Nyayo Stadium in 2001 and 2005 respectively.
McCarthy’s side will hope to use a boisterous crowd to reel in their superiors, and once again, prove that they are in the tournament not just to add numbers.
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