Kenya Football .:. Story - What Are The Chances For Kenya In U17 Tourney?

What are the chances for Kenya in U17 tourney? - kenyafootball.com image

By Patrick Korir

It is indeed good news that Mathare Youth coach Gabriel Njoroge has landed an appointment as the U-17 Coach. Njoroge who is also the U-23 coach has had little to do in that capacity as the U-23 team is yet to have any engagements.

Many have no doubt that Njoroge has the pedigree to propel the youth into a formidable winning outfit. He is now been given the onus to send boys to the inaugural Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) U-17 tourney in Bujumbura, Burundi to muscle seven participating teams and bring the cup home.

Pause, take a breath.

Njoroge(pictured left) was appointed by KFF to be the U-17 coach on Wednesday 15th August 2007. The CECAFA U-17 tourney begins on Saturday the 18th August 2007.

What that means is that Njoroge had today – Thursday and Friday to assemble a team, scale it down to the right number, go to camp, train them and hit the road to Burundi. And please note the team needs to land in Bujumbura a few days before kick off to acclimatise.

After the team has been whittled, the boys will need to have the necessary papers to travel put in order – Visa, Passports and all.

Kenya takes on Zanzibar on Sunday 19th followed by the game against Uganda on 21st August.

Did the KFF know the tournament was coming up? Definitely yes. Any reason in appointing Gabriel Njoroge just yesterday to get a team prepared to win a tournament that starts in just less that four days time? That we await answers.

Many questions will be raised, many answers are needed from the men sitting at KFF and mandated to run football in Kenya.

Across the border, Tanzania identified 56 youth players to be groomed for the same tournament. The players were set to report to camp on Monday 23rd July under the tutelage of Brazilian Coach Marcos Aulerio Tinoco.

On the other hand, Uganda appointed youth coach Richard Wasswa and SC Villa assistant coach Paul Nkata to handle the U-17 for the upcoming CECAFA tournament in Burundi in early July.

By then, a list of 35 players had been selected by the federation from local U-14 and U-17 competitions. The team entered for residential training on July 27th.

Contrast that to Kenya's scenario.

The CECAFA U-17 will set history of Confederation of African Football (CAF) as it will be held on artificial turf.

The event will symbolizes the seriousness of Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete’s desire to uplift soccer standards for the region from the youth level. President Kikwete (pictured down), an ardent soccer lover is the sponsor of the tournament with more Kshs 1M chipped in by CAF.

Kenya is placed in Group B alongside Zanzibar and Uganda while Tanzania Mainland is in Group A alongside Rwanda, Somalia and hosts Burundi.

Of the 11 CECAFA members, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Sudan are the only teams not to take part.

During the 2007 African Under-17 Championship in Togo held in March this year only Eritrea from CECAFA region rub shoulders with Togo, Tunisia, South Africa, Gabon, Nigeria, Ghana and Burkina Faso. The event was won by one of the usual suspects Nigeria.

The CECAFA tourney is therefore designed to raise the profile of youth soccer in the region and in effect shape the teams in the region ahead of the 2010 World Cup – that’s according to CECEFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye.

In naming a coach just days to the beginning of a tourney simply emphasizes how Kenya has little respect for any youth related tournament.

When will Kenya raise its profile of players if they it can’t prepare and put the youth on such a regional podium?

So what the chances for Kenya during the inaugural CECAFA U17 Championship?