Kenya won't hire foreign soccer coach

Kenya will not be shopping for a foreign coach to take charge of Harambee Stars ahead of the 2014 World Cup campaign that starts in two weeks in Seychelles. Newly elected Football Kenya chairman Sam Nyamweya has made a hasty turn on his pledge to bring in a foreign coach, saying he has confidence with the current team led by Zedekiah Otieno. "We have to give the current team their chance to lead the team. We will consult with them and see how best to help. We cannot come in and make wholesome changes, we need to have a calm transition time," said Nyamweya Monday in Nairobi. He had pledged to secure a foreign coach if elected in office. Kenya failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Nations Cup after finishing third in Group J behind winners Angola and Uganda. This saw their ranking under FIFA plummet, forcing them to go through a knockout stage, where they will play Seychelles in a two legged encounter with the winner making it through to the group stages of the World Cup qualification campaign. Already Harambee Stars assistant coach Leonard Saleh has called for seriousness ahead of the team's 2013 Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Togo. Kenya has been drawn against the West Africans in the draws released by CAF at the weekend for the tournament to be played in South Africa. Saleh said Togo being a strong team it is important to start early preparations and learn from previous mistakes committed during the last qualifiers. "We must avoid wasting time and take this match with the seriousness it deserves because it is not going to be an easy fixture," he said. Kenya last played Togo in 2002 during the qualifiers for the 2004 edition and won 3-0 at home but lost the return match 4-2 in Lome. A total of 46 teams will take part in the qualifiers for the 2013 edition with South Africa assured of participation because they are hosts having replaced Libya. According to the CAF official website, the 16 teams that qualified to the 2012 finals in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea will get an automatic bye from the first two rounds and enter directly the final round of qualifiers that begins early next year. A total of 30 countries will take part in the qualifiers from the beginning. There will be two preliminary rounds. The first round will feature the four lowest ranked teams in Africa namely Swaziland, Sao Tome, Seychelles, and Lesotho. The four will meet in first and second leg with two teams going through to the next round. The second preliminary round will feature the two teams plus other 28 who will meet in a two-leg affair from which 14 teams will qualify. The 14 teams will then join the 16 that will play in next year's Africa Nations Cup for a 30-team qualifier. The 15 who come through will join South Africa in the 2013 Africa Nations Cup finals.