B. OdhiamboFirat tips Harambee Stars to flourish in World Cup Qualifiers
Reading Time: 3min | Wed. 22.11.23. | 10:46
The win leaves Kenya third on the log tied on points with Burundi who have an inferior goal difference while Ivory Coast sits at the summit with six points alongside Gabon who are second
Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat has backed his charges to outsmart their opponents in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers and book a place at the global showpiece.
Kenya started the qualifiers on a bad note falling 2-1 to Gabon before getting back on track with a 5-0 humiliation of Seychelles in the match played on Monday night at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Firat, who is keen to lead Kenya to her first-ever World Cup, cited injuries to key squad members as the major reason for the Stars' first defeat to Gabon and feels the outcome would have been different if he had a fully fit team.
Kenya approached the Gabon clash without the services of goalkeeper Byrne Odhiambo and defenders Joseph Okumu, Erick Ouma, and Daniel Anyembe, the outspoken gaffer noted that it rattled his defense setup.
“Injuries made it difficult for us to express ourselves against Gabon because when you lose the entire backline in a snap it becomes impossible for the replacements to play well. I am confident if we had all our players available, we could have six points as we speak.”
The tactician has now challenged his charges to build on Seychelle's win and the impressive display when they take on Ivory Coast and Burundi next year to increase the Stars' chances of advancing to the World Cup.
"The only disappointing thing for me is that we were unable to register historic results. We lost so many goal-scoring chances and I'm not so happy about the outcome," offered Firat in an interview sent to the press by the Football Kenya Federation.
"I believe that if we continue with this good performance and have all our squad members back by June, then we will be in a position to yield good results."
"We are ready to show the world who we are. Very soon everyone will view us as a miracle because we will be able to register results never seen before in the country," he added.
"People should not forget that we are the only team that played all our two matches away from home so we have an advantage even if we started with a loss. We have a good chance to perform well against Burundi and Ivory Coast in June."
On introducing Benson Omalla to the fold and handing Nabi Kibunguchy a national team debut the Turkish expert said “In this situation, we were leading very clearly and therefore it was time to give this boy a chance, Benson as well as Nabi, and therefore I decided not to play experienced players in the last minutes more over the young ones as we always do. We are a team nobody can expect to play and everybody has a chance,” he offered.
The win leaves Kenya third on the log tied on points with Burundi who have an inferior goal difference while Ivory Coast sits at the summit with six points alongside Gabon who are second after collecting maximum points in two games.
.jpg)