Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat has revealed he may not extend his stay if Football Kenya Federation does not launch a long-term project for the national team.
The 51-year-old Turkish tactician, who penned a two-month contract to take Kenya to the 2022 World Cup, believes if the federation does not lay down a long-term plan for the national team then he doesn't have a reason to stay.
Kenya’s chances of reaching Qatar were ended by Mali who beat them 5-0 in the first meeting staged in Morocco and they completed the double over them after a 1-0 win at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi on Sunday.
'Why should I stay here, tell me?'
“I will talk with the President [Nick Mwendwa] and see, it was about hoping we can do it against Mali but we have failed, the reality shows we have failed, so this is the reality,” Firat told Goal when asked about his future with the team.
“My project now will be, look…now we have two games remaining against Rwanda and Uganda and we have to give our best to show that we are able to do something, but if here there is no project, if everything is living daily, it doesn’t make sense that I am here.
“Why should I stay here, tell me? How will I make the difference? Just tell me why I should be here?
Pressed further to explain whether he is willing to continue as Harambee Stars coach, Firat responded: “It depends if we have a project or not if it is daily living, I am not here, I assigned a short term contract and I wanted to see the situation around, and now I know, and I am not afraid to answer questions, I will do, I am ready.”
FKF.
On where Kenya need to improve, Firat explained: “To make it clear, it is not about lacking talent because we have abundant talent here, but if you don’t polish it, then it will stay dirty and will not give you the results you desire.
“But my first game was for me a very good lesson, I learnt a lot, I saw a lot, and I said to myself 'oops', because what I saw was crazy, if it ended 0-0 then I couldn’t have picked the problems, I think after the five goals I realised I had underestimated something.
“When I checked the players, you cannot check the character, you cannot check the concentration and you cannot check professionalism, and all this was missing, but we put it together for the return leg and they only managed one shot on target, now I see what to do for the future, I have studied a lot.”
'I am not an idiot'
On whether he can stick with his first 11 if he stays with the team for long, Firat said: “I cannot say anything bad about the boys, why should I not continue with them?
“I don’t see any problem, so in the last match it doesn’t work something and I need to make changes, I am not an idiot, so I make the changes, I wanted to see if the boys can adapt, and we played very good football,
“If I don’t get the result, then I have to open the future for young ones, why should I use players beyond 34 years [if I don't win matches], I take the blame [for the two defeats], I am not a coward, if you want to blame me, just blame me.
“I don’t know if you are from Brazil and myself I am in Kenya, but I don’t fear anything, I take the blame because I fielded the squad and they trained with me before the two matches.”
The two defeats saw Kenya drop to position three in Group E as they have two points from four matches, Mali are top on 10 points while Uganda are third with eight points.
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