Afcon: We want people to talk about Harambee Stars after Egypt, says Eric Johanna

Eric Johanna is confident that the Harambee Stars will do wonders at the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

The Kenyan midfielder, who turns out for IF Brommapojkarna in Sweden, says they have never enjoyed good treatment from Kenyan football officials as is the case currently, and the squad wants to return the favour with a good show in Egypt.

“We want to put Kenya somewhere, we want people to talk about Kenya, I know we have big teams at the tournament but remember even the so-called small teams can leave a mark in such a tournament,” Johanna told reporters at the team’s training camp in France.

“Ajax Amsterdam were almost winning the Uefa Champions League and by that, they left a mark, we also want to leave a good mark at Afcon, give Kenyan fans and people out there something to talk about when the tournament comes to an end.

“Ever since the new regime came in, we have seen a lot of improvement, we have people who are taking care of us and it was not the case before, things have really changed in a positive way and it is a good accolade to president Nick Mwendwa and his team because they have done well.”

Additionally, Johanna had the following note to Kenyan fans: “My message to Kenyan fans is  always to support your team, love your team, it is okay to criticise players but when we do well also remember to thanks us.

“It is difficult to satisfy everybody, it is over 40million people and you can only satisfy 25 million and fans should believe in us and we will return with good results.”

Johanna insists that Kenya must complete the journey they started during the Group qualifiers against Sierra Leone away with positive results at the 24-team tournament.

“It has been an interesting journey, a very memorable one since we started the qualifiers in Sierra Leone and we must keep the good work going into the Afcon. We must show that we deserve to be there in Egypt and that can only be achieved with positive results,” he added.

Kenya will play their second friendly, against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Madrid on June 15, before leaving for Egypt four days later.

They will open Group C's campaign with a match against Algeria on June 23 before playing neighbours Tanzania on June 27, and finish the preliminary stage with a match against Senegal on July 1.