Poor Infrastructure, poor results – Firat responds to critics

Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat has provided answers after recent criticism around the national team ahead of its June world cup qualifiers in Malawi.

From team selection to playing site, Harambee Stars has faced a barrage of criticism from both mainstream media and supporters on social media.

Key players, including skipper Michael Olunga and Joseph Okumu, were left off of the tentative team for the Stars’ next two matches against Burundi and Ivory Coast, causing outrage among several quotas. Not to mention the fact that Harambee Stars would have to play their home matches in Malawi.

Poor fields, poor results – Firat

While it’s clear that the country has no playing surface that meets FIFA standards for the qualifiers, Firat had more to say about the country’s sporting infrastructure.

“Building one stadium will not solve anything, as long as we don’t have good training facilities that meet international standards, without the proper infrastructure, we can’t make any step forward!

“It is not possible to create a good generation of players without proper infrastructure. How can you play good football on a bad field?” Firat posed.

In a press release attended at the team’s headquarters on May 22, Firat explained the decision to choose Malawi while squashing rumours about Olunga’s place in the squad.

“I wonder why it’s an issue now given we have been away for the past one year. Tanzania was not an option since they will also be playing at home while for Uganda we were late in making the request to FIFA for approval, so it was also not possible,” he said.

“The problems the team is facing now are not our fault, the started long ago, maybe 50 years back. This is something every fan here should think about.”

He defended the decision to settle on Malawi citing Kenya’s recent success in the Four Nations tournament.

“It was really easy to settle on Malawi given the good memories we had there, plus we know the training grounds well and the people were very kind to us.”

Despite having to play away from home, the Czech national assured supporters the team would strive to register positive results.

He also confirmed that the team will travel with a maximum of 25 players saying he needed every cover he could use in case of injuries.

Stars will play Burundi on June 7 before playing African Champions Ivory Coast on June 11 in the same venue.

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