{"id":3095,"date":"2024-05-23T14:00:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/?p=3095"},"modified":"2024-05-23T14:17:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T14:17:23","slug":"harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/","title":{"rendered":"Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Florence Simiyu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Harambee Stars national team is facing injuries to key players ahead of two important World Cup qualifiers in Malawi next month, according to their coach. <\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"946\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-111.png\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"object-fit:cover;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-111.png 946w, https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-111-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-111-768x511.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 946px) 100vw, 946px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Engin Firat stated that up to eight first-team players are injured, complicating his plans for the matches against Burundi and Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, he confirmed that team captain and top striker Michael Olunga, whose name was absent from the initial 25-member squad list released on Monday, will travel directly to Malawi instead of stopping in Kenya first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coach Firat announced that the injured players include striker Masoud Juma and defenders Dennis Ng&#8217;ang&#8217;a, Eric &#8220;Marcelo&#8221; Ouma, and Joseph Okumu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;While much attention is on Michael Olunga, there are actually up to eight players missing from the list, I am uncertain who will be fully fit.&#8221;&nbsp;Turkish coach stated during a news conference<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Harambee Stars are set to play against Burundi on June 7 and then face the reigning African champions, Ivory Coast, four days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kenya had to move their matches to Malawi because the Kenyan government closed all major stadiums for renovations, leaving no FIFA-approved venues available.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"343\" src=\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-112.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3098\" style=\"width:456px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-112.png 480w, https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-112-300x214.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Kenya is currently third in Group F of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, having earned three points from their first two matches against Gabon and Seychelles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ivory Coast and Gabon are leading the group, each with six points from two matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kenya had to move their matches to Malawi because the Kenyan government closed all major stadiums for renovations, leaving no FIFA-approved venues available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kenya is currently third in Group F of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, having earned three points from their first two matches against Gabon and Seychelles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ivory Coast and Gabon are leading the group, each with six points from two matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florence Simiyu The Harambee Stars national team is facing injuries to key players ahead of two important World<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection - Tandao Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Harambee Stars national team is facing injuries to key players ahead of two important World Cup qualifiers in Malawi.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection - Tandao Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Harambee Stars national team is facing injuries to key players ahead of two important World Cup qualifiers in Malawi.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tandao Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-23T14:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-23T14:17:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-111.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"946\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eugine Wabwile\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eugine Wabwile\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/\",\"name\":\"Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection - Tandao Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-23T14:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-23T14:17:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#\/schema\/person\/8866db1e330312ab5b45702ab4509452\"},\"description\":\"The Harambee Stars national team is facing injuries to key players ahead of two important World Cup qualifiers in Malawi.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/\",\"name\":\"Tandao Media\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#\/schema\/person\/8866db1e330312ab5b45702ab4509452\",\"name\":\"Eugine Wabwile\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6017ead116d9b0d954d5fd66ad832db9168f586bcd4789ea5fd9e05c9f3011d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6017ead116d9b0d954d5fd66ad832db9168f586bcd4789ea5fd9e05c9f3011d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eugine Wabwile\"},\"description\":\"Eugine Wabwile is a digital journalist and columnist for Tandao Media Group.Dedicated to illuminating the intricacies of politics and current affairs, I tailor compelling narratives that shed light on both global events and individual triumphs.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.tandaomedia.co.ke\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/author\/eugine\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection - Tandao Media","description":"The Harambee Stars national team is facing injuries to key players ahead of two important World Cup qualifiers in Malawi.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection - Tandao Media","og_description":"The Harambee Stars national team is facing injuries to key players ahead of two important World Cup qualifiers in Malawi.","og_url":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/","og_site_name":"Tandao Media","article_published_time":"2024-05-23T14:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-23T14:17:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":946,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-111.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Eugine Wabwile","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eugine Wabwile","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/","url":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/","name":"Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection - Tandao Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-05-23T14:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-23T14:17:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#\/schema\/person\/8866db1e330312ab5b45702ab4509452"},"description":"The Harambee Stars national team is facing injuries to key players ahead of two important World Cup qualifiers in Malawi.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/harambee-stars-coach-engin-firat-discusses-his-team-selection\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat discusses his team selection"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/","name":"Tandao Media","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#\/schema\/person\/8866db1e330312ab5b45702ab4509452","name":"Eugine Wabwile","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6017ead116d9b0d954d5fd66ad832db9168f586bcd4789ea5fd9e05c9f3011d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6017ead116d9b0d954d5fd66ad832db9168f586bcd4789ea5fd9e05c9f3011d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eugine Wabwile"},"description":"Eugine Wabwile is a digital journalist and columnist for Tandao Media Group.Dedicated to illuminating the intricacies of politics and current affairs, I tailor compelling narratives that shed light on both global events and individual triumphs.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.tandaomedia.co.ke"],"url":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/author\/eugine\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-111.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3099,"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions\/3099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tandaomedia.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}