Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat believes that Kenya would have matched Cameroon had Senegalese referee Issa Sy not awarded the five-time African champions a controversial penalty early in the game. Stars lost 4-1 to the Indomitable Lions in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match staged at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium on Friday night, an outcome which could potentially deny Kenya a ticket to the finals. The Kenyan boys were having a decent game until Sy pointed to the spot in the sixth minute after Eric ‘Marcelo’ Ouma appeared to handle a shot by Christian Bassogog. The call triggered a two-minute-long protest from Kenyan players, who felt that the incident was not clear enough to earn the hosts a free hit from the spot. ##NAJAVA_MECA_4806120##Firat, in his post-match comments, lambasted Sy for having no idea of what he was doing when awarding the penalty which was converted by Vincent Aboubakar. “It was an interesting penalty. Our team lost self-confidence after it. I have never seen in my life where a referee fails to give a yellow card for a handball penalty. It is not possible, therefore, he did not know what he was doing. I asked for an explanation and his response was in French,” he said. Firat faults Senegalese referee for failing to sent off two Zimbabwean playersThis was not the first time Firat was partly blaming poor results on decisions made by a Senegalese referee as he criticised Adalbert Diouf who handled last month’s qualifier against Zimbabwe. Firat said Diouf erred by failing to send off two Zimbabwean players for dangerous fouls they committed in the barren draw. Besides blaming the referee in the loss to Cameroon, Firat admitted that the hosts inflicted damage in the first half that proved massive to overturn in the final stanza. ‘Spare Matasi the blame’ – Wilson Oburu tells Harambee Stars fansCameroon led 3-1 heading to the 15-minute-long breather and would add a fourth one ten minutes into the second half, compounding Stars to their second biggest loss in ten years. “The first half was the worst in my time in Kenya,” conceded Firat.
