EXCLUSIVE: Onsika labels Firat ‘a huge failure’ and should be fired for AFCON miss
There were hopes after the East African nation was drawn against Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Namibia in Group J of the qualification campaign with many picking on Kenya to advance alongside the Indomitable Lions.
Firat was optimistic of helping Harambee Stars reach the AFCON since they last participated in the 2019 edition held in Egypt where they failed to advance past the group stage.
After playing their opening two matches - a 0-0 draw against the Warriors of Zimbabwe and a 2-1 win against the Brave of Warriors of Namibia - Firat told Flashscore: “I have no issue with the result of the two games, I know nothing changes in our quest to qualify for the AFCON, the dream is still on and we will make sure we achieve it at the end of the group matches.”
However, Kenya’s campaign took a nose dive after they suffered back-to-back defeats against the Indomitable Lions. They lost the first-round meeting 3-1 at Japoma Stadium in Douala before falling 1-0 in the reverse fixture at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Uganda.
Though Firat continued to keep a brave face that Kenya will qualify for their seventh appearance in the tournament, their dream was shattered on Friday, November 15th after they drew 1-1 against Zimbabwe in their matchday five fixture at Peter Makoba Stadium in South Africa. The outcome allowed the Warriors to secure the remaining qualification slot from the group and join Cameroon on the road to the North African nation.
Speaking after failing to qualify, the former Moldova coach blamed Harambee Stars exit on lacking training facilities back home and playing most of their home qualifying matches away from home.
“I can understand everybody. It’s their right to be angry because we wanted to go 100%. So, none of us is happy about it,” Firat told reporters as quoted by FARPost.
“But we have to realise what we have and stop dreaming. You remember how many times I have spoken about problems in Kenyan football, and they never fixed the problem. Things are getting worse. As long as we don’t solve these problems then it will take more years.
“Why don’t we go after the reality that we have in Kenyan football and stop dreaming? Solve the problems.”
“In Kenya, it’s only we want, we want, we want. By giving what? In three years, we have never played a match at home (in Kenya); show me another nation that has gone through that. We have no fans, nothing, we have no support.
“We don’t even have a training field in Kenya. Show me one training field. Which training field can you compare to another country? he asked. “As long as we don’t solve these problems, what would you want to do? Do we change something, federation change? Coach change? What will change at the end?
Firat is a waste of time for Harambee Stars
According to former Kenya international Elijah Onsika, it was high time Football Kenya Federation (FKF) made the decision to fire the coach, who arrived in the country in October, 2021.
“We have seen enough of this coach (Firat), I don’t know what else FKF, who hired him, want to see beyond what we have seen, it is time they cracked the whip and sent him packing, he has failed us, he has failed the country and the longer he continues to stay the tough it will get for those Kenyans yawning for positive results from Harambee Stars,” an agitated Onsika told Flashscore.
“Look at the game against Zimbabwe, there was no hunger from the team, no physicality, the team just needs a total overhaul. They were slow and lethargic and played without any objective. You could be forgiven for thinking that they were playing a friendly match in Polokwane.”
Onsika continued: “For rebuilding (of the team) to be successful, Firat must go. He carries all the blame especially on our first game with Zimbabwe and Cameroon. He keeps changing his squad and playing most of the players out of position, he rarely gets it right during matchday and our wonders, what does he do during training sessions?”
Onsika further wondered why despite Kenya needing to beat Zimbabwe to keep alive their qualification hopes, Firat named a squad of six midfielders and played a defensive game throughout the 90 minutes.
“Why do we want to defend the whole game instead of just playing football?” questioned the former Harambee Stars striker. “To be honest I am sick of these tactics, no moving forward, just playing to defend and you want to win, how can you win a game when playing defensively?”
He continued: “Our holding and attacking midfield was dead, there was no one to support or supply balls to Michael (Olunga) because it looked like we wanted to defend and get them on the counter-attack, but it never worked because Zimbabwe knew about it and decided to play deep.
“It’s high time we ask ourselves where we went wrong, when did the rain start beating us, I mean why should we play long balls the whole game and they are not working?”
While admitting the Kenyan government had failed to provide adequate facilities for the national team, Onsika said Kenya’s qualification chances diminished after the first two games of the qualifier.
“We lost the qualification ticket a long time ago in the previous matches. We tinkered with the squad and dropped points against Zimbabwe, whom we should have beaten, and against Cameroon in Uganda, Kenya deserved to beat them had we fielded a good team,” offered Onsika.
“For the future we must build facilities, invest in football from grassroots upwards with the right structures to identify talent early enough and develop players, then we must focus on having early preparations for such matches.”
What next for Harambee Stars?
With the AFCON ticket gone, Kenya have one more match to play against Namibia to finish their group matches. The two teams will face off on Tuesday, November 19th at Peter Makoba Stadium in Polokwane City.
Harambee Stars will then switch their focus to the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in March, 2025, with their first fixture pitting them against the Gambia on March 17th before hosting Gabon on March 24th. Kenya, who are in Group F, have so far played four matches, and they sit fourth in Group F with five points, five less than table leaders Ivory Coast.
