All eyes will be on Harambee Stars head coach Engin Firat when he parades his charges against the Brave Warriors of Namibia in their second Group 'J' Cup of Nations encounter at Orlando Stadium in South Africa on Tuesday.
The plain-speaking Turkish coach came under fire from irate Kenyan fans, who cast aspersions on his selection criteria after he benched all the strikers and deployed a defender and winger to hunt for goals against Zimbabwe on Friday.
Seasoned striker John Avire and last season's Kenyan Premier League Golden Boot winner, Benson Omalla, helplessly followed proceedings from the bench as a visibly timid striking force shied away from the opponents' territory in their drab barren draw against the Warriors at the Mandela National Stadium, Namboole, Uganda.
However, Firat is emphatic that he only paraded players who were physically and mentally prepared for the task.
"Everyone who featured in the match deserved it. One requires a great deal of mental fortitude to deliver at this level of competition," Firat said.
Despite Kenya's stuttering start to the Afcon qualification campaign, Firat kept his chin up, tipping Stars to bounce back strongly against Namibia.
His hopes were bolstered after Namibia crashed to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on Saturday, keeping Kenya's aspirations alive.
He believes Namibia will deploy more numbers upfront in a frantic bid to beat Kenya, something Stars will seek to capitalise on.
“Namibia will play more offensively after losing to Cameroon, making everything easier for us. We intend to sit back and hit them on the counter," Firat remarked.
Firat, however, said he would consider handing more call-ups to plug in the deficit occasioned by injuries.
“I always have a long list of injured players. In our first match, Alphonse Omija got injured and Eric Ouma could not finish the game because of injury,” Firat said.
“In the end, we will have to trust other players but let us see what the medical department says if we have to invite other players. It will be bad if we lose more than half of the team.”
Cameroon top the group with three points while Kenya and Zimbabwe are on one apiece after their goalless draw on Friday.
