Harambees new coach eager to start on winning note
Harambee stars of Kenya new manager Engin Firat is hoping to begin on the victorious note against Maliin their third qualifying mathc of the Qatar 2022 in Agadir Morocco.
Firat was appointed on a two-month contract by the Football Kenya Federation after the departure of Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee who was in charge of the first two games against Rwanda and Uganda.
The Turkish coach will be out to endear himself to the Kenyan fans and a win in Morocco against a star-studded Mali will be a good start for him.
“I am not going there to lose. I am going there to have a result. Maybe we have less quality than Mali but on the field we have to show that we are a better team. The main thing is that we show character and desire and fight till the last second,”
“We need to have a good tactical strategy and everyone has to give their all to execute this so that we get a result,” said the tactician
Back to back draws against neighbours Rwanda and Uganda have left Kenya at second spit but victories against Mali in the back to back ties will put Kenya’s campaign back on track. They play the first leg in Morocco on Thursday before the return leg on Sunday in Nairobi.
Firat says he is optimistic that despite having only few days of training with the team, he can entrench his philosophy and make them ready to take on the Malians.
The coach has trained with the local based players for a week while he will only have two sessions with the full squad in Morocco, most of the foreign based players having linked up with the team directly in Agadir.
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The tactician says that the short period he has had with the team is the reason he chose to have more experienced players back in the team. Among those he recalled into the squad include midfielder Athuman Gonzalez who plies his trade in the Spanish Segunda B as well as defenders David Owino (Nkana, Zambia) and Abud Omar (AE Larisa, Greece).