Quality friendlies key for Harambee Stars Ambani

Former Harambee Stars striker Boniface Ambani has challenged Football Kenya Federation to organise high profile friendly matches for Harambee Stars ahead of the 2020 World Cup qualifying rounds.

Kenya was placed in Group E along with Mali, Uganda and Rwanda in the round two of the qualifiers in a draw that gives the country a realistic chance to earn a first ever appearance at the global showpiece.

Ambani emphasised Harambee Stars have the chance to write that sort of history if their preparation is right as he urged head coach Francis Kimanzi to ensure ‘quality call-ups’.

“They must identify the right players. They need to expose players to the right levels of competition by organising high profile friendly matches…not just playing teams like Somalia,” Ambani said.

He added, “Qualifying for the World Cup is not easy but now we have the perfect opportunity to send our team to it and we must utilize it.”

However, Ambani has elaborated further that our national team has good players but the problem remains to be the interest of coaches if they decided to favour out of form players to the best ones.

“A player who does not play for his club even if he is foreign based must not be considered to feature for Harambee Stars.

How is he helping his club even if he is playing regularly, these are some of the things we need to be prioritizing when it comes to squad selection”.

Stars captain Victor Wanyama has been out of favour in the new Tottenham Hotspur head coach Jose Mourinho plans and his future in the club is not guaranteed.

Ambani though thinks that Wanyama is a lead figure in the Kenyan team and so for him it depends with the coach.

“Victor (Wanyama) has been playing for the national team but the role he is played is not helping him.

He plays better in a defensive mid fielder role compared to an attacking minded player”, he added.

The Qatar 2022 world cup qualifier matches are set to begin in October this year.