Kenya Football .:. Story - Kenya / Tunisia

By Sammy Tiyoi Sholei

In my previous article I indicated how there was no excitement in the air after coach Antoine Hey was employed to handle our National Team.

Yesterday there was uncertainty in the air, the waves and chants in chorus both broke up on course every time they were initiated from one corner of the stadium, the mood was dull, there was a lot of worries in many faces, it was vividly clear that football loving quarter was not sure of what the game would bring home after 90 minutes, unlike in previous matches when the national team was intact and well graphed, prediction was easy then since Kimanzi’s outfit had grown up with the fans, the prediction would light up the mood in the stadium and after the game it was all merry.

Everyone came to experiment with Kimanzi’s predecessor Mr. Hey, there was nothing to celebrate about the new coach, he has no exciting history in his quiet career, it was evident yesterday that the comments I put up in my previous article were true, I quote “There is very little Coach Hey may drive home as far as his previous performances elsewhere is concerned, compared to Francis Kimanzi who proved to the whole Kenya football loving quarter and Africa as a whole that he is capable of taking our National team places” (http://www.kenyafootball.com/index.php?doc=story&id=3585&categ=1)

To start with the National team was dressed in the worst uniform ever, the crowd which was adorned in loyal white T-Shirts bearing Kenya in black on the front and their names and preferable numbers on their backs to match our National flag appeared like Tunisia supporters in their big numbers to support their team, it was demoralizing, I personally wished I had carried my sweater with me into the stadium.

Where on earth did FKL get those “raggy” uniforms from ?, it was a clear indication as usual how lack of dress code taste is missing in the team’s management, these drops down to age and style, when you are well dressed confidence is always obvious, that would be one factor that led to poor performance in yesterday’s game.

There was a negative signal from our national team to the crowd, they looked so inferior, unsure and shaken, the air was indulged with mummers across the stadium immediately the teams lined up for Nation anthem, confusion rocked the air as the teams looked eccentrically opposite, the Tunisian’s in white and red matching the Kenya fans looked superior neat and confident, our team looked a little shaken and with no usual confidence, there was wooliness in their body language.

I can never blame the coach whatsoever, the blame bottle necks down to KFL office, the office is like I have always written in previous articles interested in their welfare than delivering to the country and fans, they do not care about the spectator’s excitement, fans buy tickets to be identified with any results that come out of all games involving Harambee Stars, they expect to be excited in all games, they buy the excitement via the tickets, meaning the office running football must deliver the paid for demands. This not being the case fans should start demanding for it, that’s a clean rip off spectator’s monies, no justifications for poor games and performances, KFL owes the crowd justifications and explanations at all time, the team belongs to the crowd and furthermore to the country and not to any individual, we therefore must be persuaded.

KFL office does not feel loyal pain when we loose out of poor decision making which if questioned you become hunted, that’s what happened to Ghost and Kimanzi. Obingo, Hatimy, Kasuve, Naggi and the rest must now resign to pave way for the loyal and committed managers to govern out football body.

We have performed well before but with a lot of controversies and difficulties that narrowed back down to the football office, the corporate world can never sponsor our football because of the above names. That in itself is killing the game.

I await that day when Kenyans will one day wake up and own the national team and the local teams, that day that the crowd would be in control and on top of all football activities, this is the only way to sent a serious signal to the office in place at all time.

We need to start demanding for performance, we need to set up performance indicators, we need to start running our soccer, we need to get our soccer back to where it belongs, We need to start owning Harambee stars like our fellow Nyanza and western Kenya brothers do, we have seen the ship sinking all along, we can do something about it but we have no courage to start, there are formulas for starting we need to start now. Its quite unfortunate how we loose easily and people walk home disappointed, let’s camp in that stadium and demand for explanations on any poor governance performance and questionable decisions, let’s demand for good running of soccer in the country, we can do it, let’s not be violent over it though but be insistent, let’s put this office on check.

If Carol Mutoko who is a BIG fan of Harambee stars can help get tones of food for our hunger stricken brothers and sisters we definitely can do the same for the love of our football. So I say again we are owed an explanation and we should demand for rationalization anytime we deem management of soccer has a problem.

I was so annoyed and disappointed how the fans including myself left the stadium, so dejected, initial at Nairobi west where I had my lunch, the pubs were filled with fans in their brand new Harambee stars T-Shirts, it was colorful and enjoyable sitting in a company of strangers all decked in white Harambee Stars T-Shirts, shouting, chanting on intervals and whistling on their beers and hot drinks, that then was a win mood, had we won the mood would have been transformed to a BIG party.

Back to the pitch, we missed my favorite Austin Makacha in the midfield and fighter in defense. Harambee stars played a no strategy game mixing themselves up all 90 minutes long. Oliech and a little bit of Oboya’s runs is all that remained of the aggressive Harambee stars we are familiar with. The Mid field was so dead giving an impression that our two professionals Mambo and Mariga can only function well when Makacha handles the midfield in a holding capacity. Mariga and mambo love to run with the balls unlike Makacha whose movements are restricted to the midfield

Mariga did a lot of diagonal runs with the ball, something that delayed distributions to the strikers and towards the opponent’s goal. He also over worked himself by playing all corners, all free kicks and almost all throw ins. That annoyed some of the spectators I sat next to, they wondered why it was a must that Mariga takes all corners, delaying the quick deliveries when opponents were still looking for holes to seal, we gave them ample time to re arrange themselves and do proper parking.

I failed to understand why Mariga would run from one corner of the field to displace the already on the ball player to take a corner kick more annoyingly making mistakes with the set pieces which never worked, we wasted minutes on free kicks and corner kicks.

Mariga should also learn to distribute balls as soon as opportunity occurs, that’s the work of a midfielder, he holds on the balls too long getting himself into physical tackles with the opponents which for a mid fielder is non productive and might subject him to injuries at a very early age, he should also stop playing beautiful out foot passing football which are never accurate, Henry Motego would be a good example as far as shielding of the ball is concerned, funs are interested in distribution than might.

Oliech was under football fed yesterday, he kept waving at the midfielders all the times he was free, and you would see his disappointment gesture from the terraces. The tightly marked Oliech did not enjoy this game as he would have wanted to.

Midfielders should have a strategy in all games, my strategy which worked well for me was always looking for the most productive striker in the game to pass the ball to, and that was always my target in the midfield. The most aggressive striker in your team should always be the priority to pass the balls to, then the second and the third according to your judgment. You can’t keep playing within yourselves in the midfield if you want to win in a game. Football is about scoring, we can not score if we play diagonal passes and run from the right centre flag to the left centre flag thinking we are playing well and in possession, we are not attacking our midfield should work on this.

The thing is, I have no confidence in Hey, and Kimanzi MUST be reinstated if we want to go South Africa. Hey confused the team more than making it play better than Kimanzi’s. Mr. Hey should also understand that as much as we are an athletic countryside, in our Kenyan soccer it doesn’t work, he should also understand that athletics is confined to one tribe, a tribe that never plays football, so stop “militarizing” our players, they are already fit, they only need tactical advices and coordination.

Our dear Hon Mr. Prime Minister, we thank you for your support as far as football is concerned, we have the talent here, we have the discipline here, we have the understanding here, our local coaches understand what our players go through locally, where they live, their mode of transport and the culture. Kimanzi proved the world that he is capable of taking the team places. He is more understood and can mingle with the players and talk their language due to the age factor. If you want to see us in South Africa come the next world cup, he must be reinstated with his assistant coach.

With the suspended players in the team under Hey, it will still not work, you saw how confused the players were in yesterday’s game. Lets swallow our pride and thank the Germany Government for donating the coach, we are at par with their coaching standards, we do not need foreign coaches, we can actually Coach their National Team, we have the talent already.