Engin Firat blames Harambee Stars' lack of goals on two players ahead of Zimbabwe clash
Reading Time: 3min | Fri. 15.11.24. | 07:56
Firat who was speaking at the Peter Makoba Stadium on Thursday evening said the absence of Ayub Timbe and Masoud Juma has had a big impact on the team’s finishing
Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat is worried about the team’s finishing ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Zimbabwe.
Firat who was speaking at the Peter Makoba Stadium on Thursday evening said the absence of Ayub Timbe and Masoud Juma has had a big impact on the team’s finishing.
“Scoring has been a big concern for the team and it has something to do with quality.
The absence of Timbe and Juma due to long-term injuries has denied us creativity offensively,” he said.
Timbe was last with the Harambee Stars squad back in June ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Ivory Coast and Burundi.
He however pulled out of the games with an ankle injury and has yet to feature for both club and country since then.
Masud on the other hand is stepping up his recovery from a severe Achilles tendon injury he sustained at the end of January.
Firat added that together with his technical bench they have come up with several solutions and believe that if it works they will have a positive result on Friday.
He revealed that both Harambee Stars and Zimbabwe will be under pressure to win Friday’s match.
“No one is a favourite and the results on Friday will depend on who handles the pressure better.
I dare say that we were even the better side in our last match in Uganda and we beat them in Malawi in March. They are very fast and quick on transition.
We expect them to stay deep and we must risk in order to get the results that we want,” he said.
With Polokwane City just 200km from the Zimbabwean border, thousands of fans are expected to turn up for the match but this does not worry Firat.
“We are used to it and sometimes it is good to subject our players to such kind of pressure to see what they are made of.”
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS - QUALIFIERS
Wednesday
Namibia - Cameroon 0-0
Liberia - Togo 1-0 (0-0)
/Sangare 83 pen/
Chad - Sierra Leone 1-1 (1-1)
/Thiam 34 pen - Dumbuya 29/
Thursday
Equatorial Guinea - Algeria 0-0
Lesotho - Central African Republic 1-0 (0-0)
/Mokhachane 51/
South Sudan - Congo 3-2 (2-2)
/Ezibon 31, 45+2, Elly 84 - Ibayi 26, 35/
Burundi - Malawi 0-0
Madagascar - Tunisia 2-3 (2-2)
/Memmiche 20 og, Amada 45+3 - Rafia 6, Ltaief 39, Abdi 90+3/
Rwanda - Libya 0-1 (0-0)
/Saad Mohamed 84/
Niger - Sudan 4-0 (3-0)
/Sosah 6, 45+3 pen, Oumarou 29, Badamassi 51/
Benin - Nigeria (1-0)
/Tijani 16/
Burkina Faso - Senegal (0-0)
Friday
16.00: (2.35) Botswana (2.75) Mauritania (3.50)
16.00: (2.95) Uganda (3.00) S.Africa (2.65)
19.00: (2.60) Cape Verde (3.05) Egypt (2.70)
19.00: (4.80) Eswatini (3.45) Guinea B. (1.80)
19.00: (4.20) Mozambique (3.20) Mali (2.00)
19.00: (3.90) Zambia (3.20) Ivory Coast (1.95)
19.00: (2.60) Zimbabwe (2.90) Kenya (2.85)
22.00: (3.20) Angola (3.10) Ghana (2.40)
22.00: (5.40) Gabon (3.50) Morocco (1.72)
Saturday
19.00: (3.30) Ethiopia (2.75) Tanzania (2.45)
22.00: (2.45) Guinea (3.10) Dr Congo (3.15)
***odds are subject to change***
