{"id":17398,"date":"2025-03-18T12:10:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T12:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/?p=17398"},"modified":"2025-03-18T12:10:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T12:10:49","slug":"harambee-stars-captain-michael-olunga-confident-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/?p=17398","title":{"rendered":"Harambee Stars Captain Michael Olunga Confident Ahead of World Cup Qualifiers."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0f3ed93d-ff32-4f41-a491-1b3606b772c1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0f3ed93d-ff32-4f41-a491-1b3606b772c1.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0f3ed93d-ff32-4f41-a491-1b3606b772c1-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Harambee Stars captain <strong>Michael Olunga<\/strong> has expressed optimism about <strong>Kenya\u2019s chances<\/strong> in their <strong>2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier<\/strong> against <strong>The Gambia<\/strong> on <strong>Thursday<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking before the team\u2019s departure for <strong>Ivory Coast<\/strong> on <strong>Tuesday morning<\/strong>, Olunga emphasized the importance of <strong>focus and teamwork<\/strong>, stating that the squad fully understands the <strong>magnitude of the upcoming matches<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;We have what it takes to improve our standing in the group. Every match is crucial, and we are prepared to give our best,&#8221;<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Harambee Stars will <strong>return to Kenya on Friday<\/strong> to prepare for their next <strong>qualifier against Gabon<\/strong> at <strong>Nyayo Stadium on Sunday<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Kenya vs. Gambia: A Familiar Foe<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kenya will be facing <strong>The Gambia<\/strong>, a team they have previously battled in <strong>AFCON qualifiers<\/strong>. While they are familiar with their opponent, <strong>Olunga insists they are not underestimating the challenge ahead<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;We respect The Gambia, but we are focused on our own game plan. We need to approach this match with the right mentality and get a positive result,&#8221;<\/em> he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kenya currently sits <strong>fourth in their group<\/strong> after the first four fixtures, and a win against <strong>Gambia<\/strong> would be a major boost for their <strong>World Cup qualification hopes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga has expressed optimism about Kenya\u2019s chances in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against The Gambia on Thursday. Speaking before the team\u2019s departure for Ivory Coast on Tuesday morning, Olunga emphasized the importance of focus and teamwork, stating that the squad fully understands the magnitude of the upcoming matches. &#8220;We [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0f3ed93d-ff32-4f41-a491-1b3606b772c1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17400,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398\/revisions\/17400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}