Harambee stars Head Coach Engin Firat has asked Kenyans to be patient as he tries to build a formidable team to represent the Country in the International stage.
Speaking at his first press briefing Firat said that the country has not invested enough to get good results.
‘Lack of top matches for the national team, and the poor state of sports infrastructure in the country are the reasons why Kenya is preforming poorly internationally,’ he lamented.
“I checked the history of Kenya, and found out that you have never played against any top team from Europe.
This is the sad reality and i will make sure that Stars face at least one top team from Europe sometime next year, he added.
The Kenyan tactician defended his decision to play an international friendly against Iran saying the country is ranked higher than Kenya and playing such friendlies will help the players cope with pressure.
“Iran has a higher ranking than a country like Egypt. Kenya hasn’t faced formidable opponents in ten years of international friendlies. Friendly matches were scheduled against weak opposition that the nation could easily defeat because Harambee Stars has always been under pressure to produce results,” Firat said.
“The disadvantage of playing weak teams has also led to a weak team because the players never learn how to handle the pressure against stronger teams in the qualifiers and it becomes very difficult to win games.”
The Turkish promised to arrange a friendly matchup between Harambee Stars and a respectable European team to give them the necessary edge to succeed on the international stage.
“When I looked up Kenya’s football history, I discovered that it has never faced off against a European team. We need to organise a friendly game with a team from Europe this year,” he said.
Kenya will play its first match after Fifa’s suspension was lifted in February. The match will be played on the 28th of March against Iran in Tehran after more than one year of inactivity.
