Why Firat will stick to the tried and tested for future Harambee Stars assignments

Why Firat will stick to the tried and tested for future Harambee Stars assignments

Mark Kinyanjui 08:00 - 11.09.2023

The Harambee Stars head coach insists his process needs to find ‘stability’ ahead of the World Cup qualifiers which will commence in November.

Kenya head coach Engin Firat has revealed that he will not be making many changes to the national team set up moving forward now that the November World Cup qualifiers are quickly closing in.

The Turkish head coach insists that he is looking to have a gelled side as soon as possible which will give the team a higher chance of achieving sustainable performances and results with players having understood each other’s games during the World Cup qualifiers.

“We will not have many changes again like we had in the matches before because I have to think about the (World Cup qualifying) matches that start in November,” Firat said.

Firat believes his process needs to find ‘stability’, which is why he wants to make little changes to future international squads moving forward.

“I need stability more for the boys in order to understand who can play together because it is also a process. I cannot always rotate the team.”

The former Eintracht Frankfurt assistant boss believes that it is easier to rotate the squad at club level because you have time to shape the side in your image due to the infinite number of training sessions, compared to international football where a coach has limited time to transcend his ideas onto his players.

“In club football, it is easier because they work everyday together. National team, I have only a short time. For example, before we play  Qatar, we will have the full squad to train and one will be in Qatar, and you cannot do tactical training in front of the eyes of the rival.

“So therefore, I cannot start a game in the national team with something which I never trained or something, so therefore I can say from now on, more stability. For sure, when I get any boy like Stanley (Wilson) where I see that this boy is extraordinary or something, they will come.”

Harambee Stars will play Qatar on Thursday at 6:25 PM EAT in Doha, before flying back to Kenya on Friday morning where they will face South Sudan on Tuesday at the Nyayo National Stadium.