EXCLUSIVE: Elijah Onsika urges Harambee Stars to be wary of Burundi and Ivory Coast

Harambee Stars will continue searching for the elusive ticket for the global competition with a matchday three fixture against the Swallows on Friday, June 7th before confronting the African champions, the Elephants, in a matchday four clash four days later.

Kenya, under Turkish tactician Engin Firat, kicked off their Group F campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Gabon before they recovered to humiliate Seychelles 5-0 in matchday two.

Harambee Stars should not underrate Burundi

According to Onsika, who played for Kisumu Posta in the Kenyan Premier League in the late 1980s, Harambee Stars must take their fixture against the Swallows with a lot of seriousness insisting any slight move to underrate them will work against their wish to win the game.

“I have heard many Kenyans saying it will be a walkover for Kenya against Burundi but that is not the case, and I hope this does not get into our players’ heads, if it does then they will be in for a rude shock,” Onsika told Flashcore.

“Burundi has the same number of points as Kenya (three apiece) in the group, they won a difficult game against the Gambia at home and narrowly lost to Gabon, so you cannot say it will be a walkover for Kenya, nowadays we don’t have underdogs in football, Kenya must strive to give their all against them,” added Onsika.

The Swallows’ opener saw them overcome the Scorpions 3-2, but they then lost the second fixture 2-1 against Gabon. 

“Most of the Burundi players know Kenyan football, most of them play or have played in the Kenyan league, so they have a good knowledge of Kenyan football and what style they play, it is the reason Kenya must not take the game lightly, they must go to the field and fight and forget about what people are saying outside here, it should be war and not a friendly game,” added Onsika.

Burundi’s squad to face Kenya includes foreign-based players Mohammed Amissi, currently playing for Feyenoord in the Netherlands, and Bienvenu Kanakimana, who plays for FK Jablonec in the Czech Republic. Other players include experienced goalkeeper Jonathan Nahimana, Shaban Hussein, Richard Kilongozi, and Elvis Kamsoba.

Onsika, who currently works as the Technical Director for a top Kenyan University, explained what Kenya must do to get a win against Ivory Coast.

“We know they are the Africa champions, they had a difficult AFCON tournament and were almost on the brink of elimination before they survived and went on to win it, so they have a point to prove,” said Onsika.

“Kenya must deploy defensive and attacking style of play to contain them, stay disciplined, try to win the ball in the middle of play and attack them when necessary, and guard against complacency.”

He added: “It will be suicidal for Kenya to fear them, that will give them (Ivory Coast) the advantage, Kenya should just go into the fixture knowing they can win it, anything is possible in football, we have seen Kenya do well in recent years under Firat, they managed to beat Qatar, got a draw against Russia (in friendly matches) so why not beat Ivory Coast?”

With injuries to key players – defenders Joseph Okumu of Reims in French Ligue 1 and Erick Ouma, who plays for Ekstraklasa club Rakow Czestochowa, Onsika believes the time is ripe for Firat to hand debuts to the new players. The new players in the final list of 25 include defender Tobias Knost of SC Verl in Germany and Bristol City defender Zak Vyner.

“We don’t have our main players, Okumu is struggling with injury, Ouma is already ruled out, then Masoud (Juma) who scored in the last two games is out injured, I think it gives Firat time to make a good decision but from my point of view, the new players should start because they come with experience and will have it easy to settle in and produce the result,” said Onsika.

Playing in Malawi is a huge advantage for Kenya

With Kenya lacking a CAF and FIFA-approved stadium to host international matches, their fixtures against Burundi and Malawi were taken to Malawi. According to Onsika, Kenya still have the advantage as the home team because they recently played at Bingu Stadium during a Four-Nation tournament.

“Of course, I would have loved them to play here, I would have loved to watch them in action after a very long time but we understand why the matches will be played in Malawi, I believe the home advantage belongs to Kenya,” explained Onsika.

“Kenya played in Malawi in March and they came back home with a trophy, that is enough to give them confidence, it is enough to make them feel at home, the same venue they won the Four-Nation trophy is the same they use, so they are at home, and I hope they know that they should not feel isolated, they are in a country where they won a cup,” he added.

Before Kenya left for Malawi, Firat told Flashcore why they settled for Malawi for the two matches. “We picked Malawi because we know the place, the players have already adapted to the place, the people in Malawi are positive against us and we have a good relationship with the people there.

"Even in Malawi Federation we have friends, Malawi coach is a close friend and I hope we will also get support from the Malawians during the matches, these are the main reason why we are there because otherwise, it is not play station that you take the team to anywhere.”

However, Firat wondered why the move had angered Kenyans by saying: “I don’t know why people are talking about it (playing away from home), we have almost played our entire home games away for a very long time and I don’t know why people don’t understand it is always very tough to play home matches away.

“In the history of Kenyan football, Kenya teams have always had difficulties playing away but I have managed to build a strong team that understands to play away and I have built a good team now, we have to handle this situation and there is nothing we can do, there is nothing I can say about it.”

Kenya’s performance against Burundi in previous meetings

Kenya will head into the fixture enjoying a better record against the Swallows. In the history between the two, they have met six times in all competitions, Kenya registering two wins, three draws and suffering one defeat.

The first meeting was on December 12th, 2007, a friendly fixture at Uhuru Stadium in Tanzania which the Swallows won 1-0. In 2009, Kenya registered their first win beating the Swallows 1-0 in another friendly at Nakivubo Stadium in Uganda.

The third meeting was another friendly in 2013 that ended 0-0 at Nyayo Stadium before they faced off again in a build-up contest in 2017 which ended 0-0.

In 2015, they met in the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) Senior Challenge Cup at Hawassa Stadium in Ethiopia in a fixture that ended 1-1. Kenya’s second win against the Swallows came in 2017, in the CECAFA competition where they won 1-0 at Moi Stadium in Kisumu en route to lifting the trophy.

According to Onsika, Harambee Stars should blame themselves if they don’t return home with at least four points from the two matches.

“I know the two matches will be difficult but for Kenya to stay on course (to earn the ticket and qualify from the group) they need to grind out at least four points, it is possible to achieve these, and it should be there target if not four, then they should aim high and bring home even six,” concluded Onsika.

Kenya are currently sitting third in the six-team table with three points, three less than leaders Ivory Coast while Gabon are second with six points. Burundi follows Kenya in fourth with three while the Gambia and Seychelles have no points.