Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa has denied claims coach Sebastien Migne was forced to select some players for the Harambee Stars during the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
Speaking in an interview with Citizen TV, Mwendwa described the Frenchman as a man with his own philosophies who cannot be persuaded to select players he is not convinced by for the national teams.
This comes just a day after the Harambee Stars returned home from Egypt, where they failed to make it to the Round of 16 after losing 2-0 to Algeria, 3-0 to Senegal and only managed a 3-2 win against Tanzania.
While responding to reports hinting Migne was forced to name some players in his Afcon-bound squad, Mwendwa said: “I guess people don’t know Migne well, I don’t think they know the coach more than I do.
“Migne is a kind of a coach who never wants interference when doing is job. He can never listen to you, even if you have seen a mistake. He will simply tell you that you know nothing about football.
“At no point did anyone ask the coach to pick specific players, that is not true. The squad was named by the coach, it was done on merit and I know he can still stand by that if you ask him.”
On pitching camp in France for three weeks ahead of the Afcon, Mwendwa said: “It was the coach who requested for the same. If you want your coach to perform, just give him what he wants.
“As a Federation, we felt it was good to follow the instructions from the coach, he gave us a plan and what he wanted us to do, and we did exactly that.
"I don’t think it was a wrong decision to train in France because the team picked up a lot of vital lessons from there.”
Harambee Stars will now shift their focus to the African Nations Championship (Chan), where their home-based players will face Tanzania in a two-legged qualifier later in July.
The first leg will be played between July 26 and July 28, with the second leg slated for August 4 in Nairobi.
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