The Kenya national team managed two draws from their opening Group E matches and will next face Mali in October
The Football Kenya Federation has stated they are satisfied with Kenya’s performance in the opening two matches of the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
The Harambee Stars started their Group E campaign to reach Qatar with a 0-0 draw against Uganda at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi before securing another 1-1 draw against Rwanda at Nyamirambo Stadium in Kigali.
Despite the result raising questions among the local fans, most of whom felt the team should have at least won one game out of the two, the FKF has come out to defend the outcome, insisting they are still in the race to clinch a ticket to the global showpiece.
What did the FKF source say?
“It was not a bad outing from our team, considering how the other teams in the group played,” a top official at the FKF, who did not want to be named, told Goal on Wednesday.
“We managed two points out of two and Uganda also managed two points out of two and it means it is a tight group for every team, Mali beat Rwanda and also could not beat Uganda, I think Kenya did well, it was the opening two matches and with the team not training for long, we deserved what we got.
“I don’t think fans are right to ask for changes in the technical bench, they have just handled two matches and we have not lost any match, it is not good to keep changing the technical bench and why should we change it anyway, even after taking two points and we are now second on the table?
“Kenya has never been to the World Cup before so we should not put too many expectations on the bench, we need to give them time to do their job, maybe this is our time, we still have a chance, we can do it if we get a positive result away to Mali and back home in October.”
In a previous interview, Harambee Stars coach Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee maintained they are still in the race to make their first-ever appearance at the World Cup despite only having two points from the same number of matches.
“Otherwise it is not fair because looking at both sides not having won their first games and coming back to Rwanda and we pick up a point, it is tight but we are still in the race for the World Cup, it is just not done yet, so we are still on, two games played and we go to Morocco for the Mali game and that will determine which way it will go,” Mulee told Goal.