Coach Hey bows to pressure and recalls Oliech

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 By GILBERT WANDERA

The resistance by Harambee Stars coach Antoine Hey to include striker Denis Oliech and defender Edgar Ochieng’ in his line-up to face Nigeria was bound to trigger acrimony.

It is therefore, ironic the German buckled under pressure from Football Kenya Limited (FKL) officials to include two players nicknamed ‘The Menace’ Oliech and ‘Fighter’ (Ochieng) in his team to face the Super Eagles in their last 2010 World/Nations Cup qualifier they must win to harbour hopes of playing in Angola next year.

Feverpitch had reported on Monday that FKL had asked Hey to name the two players in the squad to face Nigeria on November 14.

However, Hey did not give up so easily. He threatened to resign on Monday as he stuck to his guns not to include the pair but FKL officials, ruing ramifications of defeat against Nigeria, dared the coach to do so. With a 5-0 spanking at the hands of a Kuwaiti side said to be bereft of six first team regulars on Tuesday ringing in his ears, Hey finally alighted from his high horse.

FKL women committee boss, Lena Jelimo revealed this yesterday when the team landed in Nairobi from Cairo.

She said: "We informed Hey on Monday that we have already dispatched letters to Oliech and Ochieng’ to come for the Nigeria match.

"He asked that we should give him copies of the letters and later threatened to resign if he was forced to call the two. We told him to go ahead and instructed assistant coach Twahir Muhiddin to take over.

"When the time he had threatened to resign came, we asked him for his quit letter but he just decided to go on with his duties and accepted that the two players be called up together with any other good player."

FKL Vice-chairman Erastus Okul said the Nigeria match is very important and they need all the good players.

"This is not about us anymore. It is about the country and it is bigger than any of us. "We cannot allow one individual to take us hostage. We are calling all our best players just like Nigeria have done.

"We have to give the match our best shot and there is no excuse for us not to win at home," said Okul

Okul, who also traveled with the team to Cairo, handed Hey a letter asking him to call up Oliech and Ochieng’.

As we exclusively reported on Monday, the two players are expected to link up with the rest next week.

Hey declined to speak to us about the 5-0 humiliation but sources in the team blamed him for the defeat saying he made unnecessary changes towards the end.

"We were down only 1-0 with about 15 minutes to go. The coach then decided to bring in fresh legs. It took a while for the new players to gel and we conceded four goals in less than ten minutes," said the source.

Assistant coach Twahir Muhiddin, however, said Kuwait were more prepared having camped in Cairo for two weeks prior to Tuesday’s match.

"They also had all their regular players and we had new players."