Oh well. Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat had a bunch of few more questions to the Kenyan public and as the leader of the side, words of advice to the locally-based players in the camp as preparations for the Four Nations Tournament scheduled for Mauritius from 11-18 June 2023 entered the fourth day at the MPesa Foundation Grounds in Thika.First off, Firat questioned why the omission of Kenya Police striker Elvis Rupia – who he described as ‘is one step ahead of Benson Omalla’ wasn’t met with as much backlash as Omalla’s omission in Harambee Stars’ last assignment against Iran earlier this year.Here we go.Your #HarambeeStars squad for Mauritius Four Nations Tournament!🔗 https://t.co/N2YJy76UFv— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) May 29, 2023 “Everybody wrote something about ‘insult to the country’ and some racist comments,” Firat said of the fan responses once it was confirmed that Benson Omala was missing from the team’s final squad. “But now, Rupia, statistically with the same goals, more assists and less penalties is not included, I don’t see any words. Sometimes somebody has to put a finger in this thing and ask who organized it and maybe at some point clear out the issue.”With that, Firat went on to have a chat with the media about his early thoughts on the aforementioned Omala, having interacted with him in camp.##NAJAVA_MECA_7312201##“I was laughing the first day when Benson [Omala] approached me and I explained to him some parts of the game which he needed to improve on and grow up, you know. How he can be better,” Firat said.He is a talented young boy, people forget that. He is not ready and needs time to learn, it is his first season.”With 25 goals in 32 matches this season, Omala is East Africa’s leading goal scorer ahead of Yanga’s Fiston Mayele (16) and Express FC’s Allan Kayiwa who has a total 13 goals in 28 matches.Benson Omala is East Africa’s leading top scorer.Omala (Gor Mahia 🇰🇪) – 25 GoalsMayele (Yanga 🇹🇿) – 16 Goals Kayiwa (Express 🇺🇬) – 13 Goals #RadullLive pic.twitter.com/7MY7zdEDwm— @RadullLive (@radulllive) June 9, 2023 This season, specifically, the former Western Stima man has left nothing to chance in his quest of lifting the Golden Boot for the very first time in his career, performances that have earned him a place in elite Gor Mahia company.At the time he was on 18 goals this campaign, Omala became only the second highest scoring man to achieve such a tally after the opening 18 games, with William Ouma the man above him having bagged 19 goals in the opening 18 matches back in 1968.Omala puts Harambee Stars heartbreak behind, vows to hit new highs at GorFirat then in Friday’s presser expounded on the private conversations with the former Western Stima that surrounded him and his Gor Mahia teammates not just settling with the fact that they are or will be Kenyan champions.“If these boys are happy because they are Kenyan champions then we have a big problem,” Firat said. “I told him directly that he shouldn’t be overly excited that he scored over (teams that he knows better than me) are not maybe sleeping in a hotel and are sleeping in buses and maybe don’t have anything to eat. You cannot be happy winning against them. “Even for this Gor Mahia side, I don’t think it’s hard to be champions.”The challenge then was clear; “Players need to understand where they are, open their minds and have a bigger vision.”The other Gor Mahia players called up to the national team camp are; Austin Odhiambo, Sylvester Owino and Alpha Onyango.The team is expected to travel on Saturday, with the first game against Djibouti on Sunday at 6:30pm EAT.
