Kenya will make their debut in the competition, courtesy of its role as one of three co-hosts. They will host alongside East African neighbours Uganda and Tanzania.

The tournament is set to commence on August 2 - 30. McCarthy said he had full confidence in his squad...

“ I'm here to bring success to this country, and the players that we have selected are the players that we have seen and have had in camp. They were just unfortunate that when you go and play World Cup qualifiers, international players come, so you can't select everyone.  So now it's based on a local camp. Those are the players you have seen and their qualities. You risk taking someone based on a couple of games or knowing what you are going to have when you have seen players and that how we selected.”

McCarthy and his troops will open their campaign against Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the August 3.

 They are in the same group as Angola, Zambia, Morocco and DRC. He says he can't make everybody happy with his selection.

“ We know that not everybody is going to be happy with how the team is selected, but not everyone has been where I have been. So I have an eye, I know talent, and I have seen the players that I have selected that we pick by far the players that i think and the technical team think that can take this team. we are not just going to participate in the CHAN we are here to make a statement we are here to go as far as possible hopefully winning the tournament and the boys that you see there those are the boys that i think that got the capabilities of taking this team where it should be.”

--ChannelAfrica--