NAIROBI, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's soccer team, Harambee Stars will aim to advance to the second round during the Africa Cup of Nations finals that will be held in Egypt from June 21 to July 19, the national coach said on Thursday.

Head coach Sebastien Migne, who steered the national team through the qualifiers to send the team to the biennial event after 15-year hiatus, said that for the moment the team's aspiration is to come out of the group stage.

"We will take one match at a time and try to proceed progressively to the second round," Migne said during a send-off reception for the team that departs the country Friday for three-week residential training in France.

The Frenchman named a squad of 27 players for the trip to his home country, down from 36 players but will name his final squad of 22 ten days to the start of the competition.

Migne received criticism two weeks ago when he named a provisional squad that Kenyan soccer pundits thought left out names of some players who deserved to be in the team.

"I was surprised to find out that Kenya has many 'coaches' especially in the last two weeks. As the head coach, my choice should be respected. If outsiders selected the team for the 2004 edition, then I am sorry the same shall not happen under my watch," he remarked.

Johanna Omollo, who stood in for captain Victor Wanyama who is in Madrid for the Saturday Champions League finals between Tottenham Hotspurs and Liverpool, said the mood in the camp is perfect.

"The ambience among players is flawless. We still have three more weeks to prepare and we hope to perform better than last time and post positive results," said Omollo, who plays professional football in Belgium.

Nick Mwendwa, president of Football Kenya Federation, said an advance team of three support staff is already in France to prepare the ground for the national team. Enditem