NAIROBI, Kenya, May 23 – Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat is optimistic defender Joseph ‘Crouch’ Okumu and Erick ‘Marcelo’ Ouma will be available for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Ivory Coast and Burundi, while he has explained why skipper Michael Olunga was not part of his provisional team.
Okumu and Ouma have been missing for their respective clubs in Europe due to injury but Firat says he will assess them to know whether or not they will be fit to play.
“Marcelo is already here and we spoke and I expect Joseph to also come in. The problem sometimes with African players in European clubs is that the clubs push the players not to play if they have small injuries. They don’t want them to risk the injuries. But we will assess them here and see,” said the Turkish tactician.
He says that at the moment, the only players who is 100 percent out of the game is striker Jonah Ayunga who earned his debut during the last FIFA friendly window, as his injury has been proved to be serious.
Why is Olunga missing from provisional list?
Meanwhile, the tactician has explained why skipper Michael Olunga, midfielder Richard Odada as well as defender Daniel Anyembe were not named in his initial provisional squad, something that had raised eyebrows.
“The thing is I named only players who would be available to come here. For Michael, Daniel and Richard, they will join us directly in Malawi because of permissions from their club and that is why I didn’t name them,” the tactician offered.
Stars entered the third day of residential training in Nairobi on Thursday building up towards the two qualifiers against the African champions and neighbors Burundi next month, with both games set to be played in Malawi.
The tactician has meanwhile said it is unfortunate that the team will not play their home matches in Nairobi, but assures they will do their best to get a result.
