Firat: This is a different, hungrier Kenya

by Staff Reporter

Thursday Nov 23, 2023. 13:25

Kenya head coach Engin Firat believes the future is looking bright for football in the country after picking up three points out of six on the road at the start of 2026 World Cup qualifying.

The Harambee Stars opened their qualifying campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Gabon in Franceville last Thursday before bouncing back with a 5-0 demolition of Seychelles in Abidjan four days later.

Firat’s side are third in Group F behind Ivory Coast and the Panthers, who both collected maximum points from their opening two qualifiers.

The Turkish tactician feels the East Africans have an advantage in the group after playing away from home this month and insists they will be in a “good position” when hosting Burundi and the Elephants in June 2024.

“We are the only team which played two consecutive away matches. Most of the teams played one home one away. We are still in the race even if we started with a loss. In June we have two home matches and these will put us in a good position,” Firat declared.

“Everybody has now realised that this is a different Kenya, we are ready to compete and we are hungry. We are not happy with a loss and we always want to win.

“Kenyan football has a bright future. We played really well (against Seychelles). The only disappointing thing is that we had many chances and we failed to get a historic result.

“In the end, if we continue like this in June, we will do better. Hopefully we will not have injuries and we have more time to prepare.

“Now we do our best to make a miracle from the coming matches but later, nothing will be a miracle. People can expect from us things never done before in Kenya.”