Kenya  national team coach, Adel Amrouche has described the March 23 World Cup qualifier against African champions, the Super Eagles as a test of intention in his bid to rebuild confidence in the under-achieving Kenyan squad.

The Algerian-born Belgian coach will be having his baptism of fire as head coach of Kenya in Calabar, Cross River State next Saturday. He stated that his ambition was to post a positive result in the match, adding that he was not cowed by the intimidating credentials of the Super Eagles who are topping the group F World Cup qualifiers with four points.

Super Eagles celebrate after winning the 2013 Afcon final

“We are working to be ready for Nigeria since it is a good game for our national team. It is good motivation for everybody and we take this positive step and we hope to give a good presentation and have a good result,” Amrouche said.

“I’m not worried about the physique of the Nigerians since in football, it’s not about the size of the players but on the mentality and how they apply themselves in the game,” the Algerian born Belgian international added.

Kenya are bottom of the group with one point from their opening two matches and face a herculean task to qualify for the next stage but Amrouche is not looking at the last two games.

“We are bottom of the group but I believe the race is not over. If the players are in the right state of mind I am sure we can beat Nigeria, home or away, and as we prepare for the game I am confident we will impress,”,he said.

He submitted that his ambition is to build a strong team for Kenya in a five-year period as he called on Kenyans to be patient as he embarks on working with young players to form the core of future teams that can effectively compete internationally as spelt out on his mandate when he took over from Frenchman Henri Michel who resigned last December.

“Of course, this is not to say that experienced players and those who play outside will not have the chance but my aim is to work with those I have with me now to ensure that we have a strong team.

“We need to look at maybe five years from now since like Burkina Faso or Burundi as an example; they came up with a plan and stuck by it. We cannot have a team now and expect to eat from it, we must be patient.”