Firat happy for Kenyans in Qatar, pleased with team's adaptability in Doha

Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat, to his admission, might not be in a position to know how Thursday night’s victory over Qatar felt to the Kenyans back home, but was indeed happy with how his players adapted in the road game staged at the Al - Janoub Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

Following a 1-0 win against Pakistan in June, Firat was at hand as Kenya secured another victory this year - coming in the nature of a last-gasp Amos Nondi winner to cap off an impressive outing against the Asian Cup champions.

Nondi buries late winner as Harambee Stars edge Qatar in memorable friendly

Stars, placed 46 places below Qatar as per the latest (July 2023) FIFA rankings, seized the opportunity in front of a Kenyan-backed fanbase to take the lead on Thursday when Joseph Okumu headed in a 20th minute corner from Kenneth Muguna, and despite being pegged back courtesy of a Hassan Al Haydos penalty, engineered a way - through pure grit - to emerge 2-1 victors.

“I don't know how it feels for the Kenyans,” Firat said Friday night, shortly after he and his squad members jetted back in Nairobi for Kenya’s second friendly fixture against South Sudan on Tuesday. “I know how it feels for the Kenyans in Qatar. Happy that they are proud and self confident because I know how it is to live as a foreigner in another country.

“So now they have something that even makes me want to change their lives there because they can now go out with real pride,” he added.

It is without a doubt that the national team was greeted with overwhelming support and backup in Doha on the day, with clips of the squad saluting the fans post-game, and a conspicuous Daniel Anyembe dishing his game-worn shirt to a lucky Kenyan fan.

With his personal touch (and granted) out of the way, Firat thought his team played "very well", while noting some of the positives he picked out of the game.

“What we have done very well is we changed how we played from behind; how we opened the game, how we changed the sides, so really Qatar had nearly no chance to press against us as we broke all the pressing they did on us,” the Turkish head coach said.

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Queried on what he thought about the upcoming game against South Sudan, he added: “We’ll see. Every match has its own story. Of importance to me is to see how the team is developing, how the players react to what we do in training and how they adapt.

“Like I said to the players; try your best, and see what the future will bring.”

The last friendly fixture in this window will offer Kenya a chance to extend their unbeaten run over South Sudan - a team that has lost in all three previous head-to-head occasions and by an aggregate score of 6-1.