NAIROBI, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Gor Mahia FC remains on course to reach the last eight in the Confederation Cup tournament ahead of their clash with USM Alger in Algeria on Wednesday.

The Kenyan Premier League champions left for Algeria on Monday, connecting through Morocco and head coach Dylan Kerr is buoyant, his squad will grind out a result away in Algeria to boost their hopes of the quarterfinal slot.

"Our target remains getting to the quarterfinal stage of the CAF Confederation Cup. The team has its challenges, but we have what it takes to get there," said Kerr as the team left for Algeria.

The other teams in their Group D are Rayon Sport of Rwanda and Yanga FC of Tanzania. The two sides will be playing in Kigali.

Gor Mahia and USM Alger are both tied on eight points in Group D after five rounds of matches in the competition.

However, the Kenyan champions are sitting top owing to a better goal difference. Rayon Sports of Rwanda are second on six points while Yanga are bottom with four.

Gor Mahia will need to avoid defeat against USM Alger and pray Tanzania's Yanga SC edge out Rayon Sports in Kigali in the other group match to sail through.

Kerr's side bottled up a chance to finish the business early when they unexpectedly went down to Rayon Sports 2-1 in Nairobi two weeks ago.

But the Englishman is leading a rejuvenated side after they secured the Kenyan title and hopes his 18-man contingent will prevail in North Africa.

TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are the 2016 and 2017 Confederation Cup winners but are not defending the title as they have qualified for the Champions League group stage.

Tunisian clubs have won the competition five times - the best record of any nation - but no team from the North African state qualified for the group stage.