Nairobi News

Newly-appointed Harambee Stars assistant coach Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno has said he is capable of delivering both for the national team job and at club level with Kenyan Premier League side KCB.

Zico spoke to Nairobi News on Monday, moments after he was unveiled as the bankers’ head coach at the club’s training ground in Ruaraka.

TWO ROLES

The 51-year-old, who has previously served as the national team head coach, will deputize Francis Kimanzi in his role with Harambee Stars.

The former Kenyan international has also stated that doubling in these two roles will be no major challenge.

And for good measure, he cited the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national football team as an example.

“My friend Florent Ibenge has been winning titles both as coach of TP Mazembe and the Black Leopards,” said Zico.

“His assistant in the national team is Mwinyi Zahera who is also a successful coach at Yanga (in Tanzania). It is possible to do these two jobs at the same time and still win. After all, the league games will not be played during the international break (when national teams are active). If need be, I have an able assistant who will hold brief at club level,” he further said.

AFCON TARGET

At the same time, Zico has vowed to do his best to ensure Harambee Stars qualifies for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

To that end, he revealed that plans are underway for the national team to play a number of international friendly matches before the start of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

“We talked to the federation and we have arranged some friendly matches to fine tune the team. It is important to prepare well because our target is to make a return to the Nations Cup after playing in Egypt this year,” Zico said.

Zico will be presented to the public on Tuesday as Harambee Stars assistant coach by Football Kenya Federation.

Kenya, who have been drawn in alongside Egypt, Togo and Comoros in the 2021 Africa Nations Cup qualifiers, will commence their campaign against the Pharaohs in Egypt in November.