40 call ups for Cape Verde date: Panic or strategy?

Harambee Stars coach Bobby Williamson has set the ball rolling for the forthcoming world cup qualifier tie against Cape Verde on November 13 by unveiling a provisional squad of 40-odd players.

With the huge reward for the winner of this tie being a ticket to the group stage to battle for one of Africa's five slots for Russia 2018, everything done in the way of preparing the team should be geared towards ensuring that the team becomes stronger, not weaker.

With the short time between preparation and match-day, I wonder whether inviting so many players to camp is a wise consolidation strategy to plug weaknesses identified from the Mauritius preliminary tie or a risky tinkering adventure that might backfire come match day.

The provisional squad retains regulars like Victor Wanyama, Ayub Timbe, Johanna Omollo, Allan Wanga, and Arnold Origi. However, the coach sprung a major surprise by introducing a quartet of complete unknowns to the team.

Majority of Kenyans will be hearing of Nicholas Kipkirui (Zoo Kericho), Ken Maritim (Ligi Ndogo), Mark Bikokwa Baraza (Nzoia United) and Calvince Omanga (Palos FC) for the first time. 

A Gotv Shield Cup tie between Gor Mahia and Palos FC introduced Palos' striker Omanga to Kenya's football fans after the youngster scored too classy goals against Gor, obviously impressing national selectors. The other three are yet to have their day of national limelight but I believe that they must be good enough to earn national call ups. 

While it is good to have a continuous programme of injecting new blood to the national team, I believe this should be done in such a way that it does not affect the stability of the team, especially in the run up to major national assignments like the one coming up in two weeks' time.

I believe that coach Williamson has most of his starting eleven sorted out already and all he is doing is bringing in new players for assessment for possible integration into the national team in case they prove good enough to plug the weak points in the team. 

That is obviously a good strategy that can ensure the team grows stronger, especially with the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup, where the foreign based players will most likely not feature, just around the corner. In deed, the fact that the coach has been bold enough to name untested players from the little clubs is laudable, considering that most selections have been from the traditional big clubs.

The worry would be if the naming of the huge provisional squad, including the four fresh call ups, was a panic reaction triggered by the looming Cape Verde tie. I hope that is not the case.    

Done with Mauritius, bring on Cape Verde - We are Harambee Stars!

It has been quite a while since my last post here. While I was away, Zambia came to Nairobi and confirmed my fears by beating Kenya 2-1, making our task of qualifying for Afcon 2017 much harder.

During the same period, Gor Mahia confirmed what had for weeks become a mere formality by winning a third consecutive premier league title, the first of three titles that they can win in what has been definitely a wonderful season for the club.

Another development during the same time was the emergence of Gor Semelang'o and Nick Mwendwa as serious challengers to Sam Nyamweya's stranglehold on Kenya's football chiefdom. And only a few days ago, Kenya went to Mauritius and ran riot, thumping the Indian Ocean Islanders 5-2. 

The return leg five days later ended as an anti-climax for Kenyan fans when a resolute Mauritian defence and an inspired goalkeeper ensured there would be no more free scoring. Apart from the 0-0 scoreline, however, Kenya's performance was satisfactory, really. 

The defence worked well, skipper Victor Wanyama controlled the midfield well and several scoring chances were created, with striker Michael Olunga missing a couple good ones and hitting the goal post twice.

With qualification for the next stage of World Cup 2018 qualifiers now assured - and here a fancied Cape Verde side awaits - one would have hoped for some kind of miraculous commitment from the Football Kenya Federation to ensure we increase our chances of beating Cape Verde and entering the group stage. 

Instead, the usual mediocrity of local football management was at play immediately after the match, with players complaining about non-payment of allowances. Already, Kenya's number one goalkeeper Anorld Origi had boycotted the two legged qualifier against Mauritius, protesting against the non-refunding of money he spent travelling to Kenya for national duty. 

And as Kenya prepared to face Mauritius in Nairobi, Kenya's players were rumoured to have been planning a boycott of the tie - before they were talked out of it.

Is this the way to prepare to face a Cape Verdian side that we easily beat home and away ten years ago, but which has since improved so vastly that they have to wait for us in a later qualification round as we negotiate ourselves out of trouble against the minnows of African football that Mauritius surely are?

What the Cape Verdians have done over the ten years, and what we have not done, is the reason we are steadily going backward as the tiny Atlantic Ocean Islanders confidently climb the ladder of world football. If we are not careful, ten years from now, Mauritius will beat us home and away and we shall be left wondering how we can lose to a team that we dismissed quite easily ten years back.

These are the thoughts that should preoccupy us as we prepare to vote in new football administrators. Whoever is able to read this post and has some power to influence the election outcome should forego selfish interest and put the interest of Kenyan football first. 

We need committed and selfless leaders to get us out of the dark hole we have dug for ourselves so that in future, we do not have to tremble with fear at the thought of facing Africa's "Cape Verdes". These are the kind of opponents we should be relishing coming up against, any day, any time.

Meanwhile, I wish Harambee Stars all the best as they plot to defeat Cape Verde in November, whatever the circumstances. Go! Go! Stars! Kenya's long suffering football fans are solidly behind you!

Kenya vs Zambia: Who will blink first?

Kenya returns to the pitch on Sunday 6th against Zambia intent on securing her first win of the 2017 Afcon qualifiers and boosting chances of appearing at the continental football tournament for the first time since 2004.

That is easier said, though, as Zambia have a higher pedigree in African football compared to Kenya. After all, the Chipolopolo are regular Afcon finals participants and actually won the tournament in 2012.

Ranked 18th in Africa and 73rd in the world, Zambia are 43 places above Kenya in the global FIFA rankings.

All countries in Kenya’s Afcon group E (including Guinea Bissau and Congo) are on one point after the first round of matches, where Kenya drew 1-1 with Congo and Zambia were held to a 0-0 draw by Guinea Bissau. Does that give Kenya hope?

The last time Kenya met Zambia in the Afcon qualifiers was in 1999, when the Zambians won 1-0 home and away. In fact, Kenya have not beaten Zambia in the Afcon before and the overall head-to-head record is overwhelmingly in favour of Zambia.

Since the two countries first met in 1964, they have played each other 34 times, with Kenya winning six times, drawing six times and losing 22 times. The most recent encounter was during the 2009 CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup tournament held in Nairobi where Harambee Stars lost 0-2 to the Zambians.

Against this background, do we stand any chance of beating the Zambians and enhancing our chances of qualifying for Gabon 2017? At the start of the qualifying process, it would have been very easy to answer ‘yes’, especially after Kenya threatened to embarrass the highly fancied Congolese in their own backyard before a schoolboy mistake by defender Jackson Saleh gifted them a penalty and the match ended one all.

Two months later, Kenyan fans’ apprehension must be growing that come Sunday evening, they might find themselves on the loosing side yet again.

This should not be the case, especially now that Kenya can again boast of decently talented footballers. We now have numerous players featuring competitively in foreign leagues, the most prominent being undoubtedly Southampton’s Victor Wanyama.

For the first time in a long while, we have a situation where coach Bobby Williamson is spoilt for choice in terms of selecting strikers. Gor Mahia’s Michael Olunga and Tusker FC’s Jesse Were are enjoying top scoring form in the SportsPesa Premier League while Jacob Keli must have learnt one new trick or two from his experience playing in the Zambian league.

As talented as Kenya’s current squad is, the issue of poor preparations might return to haunt us as the case has been many times in the past. Responding to journalists questions after a training session, coach Williamson acknowledged that Zambia had enjoyed better preparations than Kenya and as such held an edge leading to the Sunday encounter.

"Of course, they (Zambia) will always have an advantage but it (early preparation) was out of our hands . It was a question of whether we will have the players and whether the clubs would release them,” said Mr Williamson.

If one were not from Kenya, it would be easy to wonder how the Zambians managed to organise a three-week training programme for their national team while Harambee Stars are counting on four days of training to put together a winning formula against their dangerous opponents.

However, as Kenyans, we know that FKF hardly ever gets anything right. They are the classic ‘reap where you did not sow’ kind of organisation. They are probably already preparing to praise themselves in case of a win and to blame someone if we lose. It was especially disheartening to hear a FKF official talking of ticketing arrangements when he was asked abouk Kenya's preparations for the match.

One other problem facing Kenya is the mental strength of captain Victor Wanyama, whose attempt to engineer a move to Tottenham Spurs was swiftly snuffed out, accompanied with a strong warning from Saints coach Ronald Koeman. Is he currently in the right frame of mind to play?

Additionally, a comedy of errors meant that Paul Were’s  mooted move to Gor Mahia never materialised and the player has thus missed precious playing time. Considering that he was Kenya’s brightest player in Congo, that is a great loss indeed.

And there is the small matter of goalkeeping. Kenya’s most reliable goalkeeper has been Arnold Origi for a long while now. While he has already played close to 2000 minutes for his club Lillestrom of Norway, the player seems reluctant to continue serving his motherland with dedication, yet that is the least we can ask of him.

If Origi is a no show again, we shall be left with the option of Gor Mahia’s  Boniface Oluoch, who will definitely torture millions of Kenyans silently praying for 90 minutes that he does not have one of his bad days in goal.

Having said all that, my hope is that we shall get that first Afcon win against Zambia and improve our chances of going to Gabon 2017. We have that Kenyan spirit that seems to drive us on even in the midst of the toughest of challenges. After all, we have home ground advantage - the 12th player. So, Go! Go! Stars!