Kenya national team head coach Engin Firat warned Cameroon that Harambee Stars are not afraid of playing against them in their next 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
After a 0-0 draw against Zimbabwe in their Group J opener at Stade Nelson Mandela Stadium in Uganda, on Friday, September 6th, Harambee Stars finally registered their first win in the qualifiers after defeating Namibia 2-1 at Orlando Stadium in South Africa on Tuesday, September 10th.
Second half goals from John Avire, a beautifully taken free-kick, and Duke Abuya’s tap-in after a cross from Eric Ouma put Kenya 2-0 up before Deon Hotto pulled a goal back for the Brave Warriors in added minutes.
Kenya will now prepare for a double-header against Cameroon in their next assignment in the qualifiers. The Indomitable Lions will host the first meeting in Yaounde on October 7th before they meet again on October 15th.
Speaking to the press after the game, Firat said Kenya was not afraid of facing the Indomitable Lions.
“Do you think Kenya is an easy team?” Firat posed a question. “Cameroon should think about how they want to crack Kenya, we are not afraid of Cameroon, you saw the boys, how they played before against Ivory Coast, against Russia, against Qatar.
“If you have the boys together, the boys are very united and they believe in each other, we are on our way, let us face the reality what the boys have done this year, they are unbeaten this year, they have won a Cup (Four-Nation tournament) outside Kenya, we have scored 10 goals from the last six matches, we had never won in Namibia but we have won now.”
The former Moldovia coach continued: “I can’t continue to count the success of these boys, whenever you have many wins outside Kenya, and if people cannot realise and appreciate, I don’t have anything to say, the problem is people talk negatively about the team forgetting the team is on the rise, If you don’t pay the coach nine months, but you still keep talking negatively about the team, it really hurts me.”
Firat further admitted his decision to start two strikers, unlike the game against Zimbabwe, where he started two midfielders as strikers, had worked in favour of the Harambee Stars.
“After we lost so many players in the preparations and also the last match we had so many players missing, so I needed to find new solutions especially after the 0-0 draw against Zimbabwe, where our creative players were not aggressive enough to finish the game,” explained Firat.
“Today (Tuesday) against Namibia we had to change the system, we went for two centre forwards to go more physical, to push Namibia especially in the centre, so in the first half I was not happy with our boys because they were not taking the challenges as I wanted.”
Firat continued: “Namibia was a little bit more aggressive and in the half-time break we had a little loud talk with the players and after these we made some change to stop the problem we had in the midfield especially when Peter (Shalulile) came back he was always free to play the passes deep, after these, in the second half, you saw that in the end Namibia had only long balls and it was not a really problems for us.”
On Kenya’s chance to qualify for a seventh appearance at the 35th edition of the African tournament in Morocco, Firat said: “Like I said from the beginning in these Group everything is possible, I don’t believe that Namibia is out of the group, Namibia can even win their next two matches against Zimbabwe, all is possible, therefore, everything depends on the last day (final group) matches, and I hope in the last day everything is in our hand and we can take the ticket.”
The win enabled Kenya to move top of Group J with four points, same number as second placed Cameroon, who settled for a 0-0 draw against Zimbabwe at Nelson Mandela Stadium on Tuesday, September 10th.
