By S. Ty Sholei

NAIROBI, KENYA: My belated congratulations to the national football team players and the technical bench following the performance and result against Nigeria and Malawi in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers last week.

Under the circumstances, I am convinced that the team did their best against the African champions and the southern African side. The players also expressed their raw talent that, if nurtured, would take the country to greater heights of football.

Their were also some negatives within the team’s performance, that I wish to use this forum to highlight, now that I am not able to contribute directly to the team after being locked out by the current office, despite being validly elected. 

First, it is disheartening to note the national team has been bundled out of this tournament with two games to spare, even before they went to Malawi. Kenya, therefore, join the likes of Botswana, Cape Verde Islands, Gambia, Sudan, Niger, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Togo as some of the nations that have no chance of securing qualification.

Considering the fact the Harambee Stars were pooled alongside Namibia and Malawi, I would have suggested that the Federation, with proper planning, would have performed better.

In essence, home wins against Malawi and Namibia and away draws against the same opposition (which in my view was a feasible target), would leave Kenya with eight points, heading into the two games against Nigeria, home and away. Thereafter, restricting Nigeria to two draws, home and away, will have Kenya on 10 points, and thereby with a credible chance of topping Group F.

As it turned out, this team, although talented, couldn’t even conjure up a win against Malawi and Namibia!

I am a former player of this team, and we left a mark during our reign by becoming successful with both the national team and at club level, despite the limited resources and support at the time.

Bravo to the older football Generation that we never matched, the likes of Mohammoud Abbas, JJ Masiga, Ambrose Ayoyi, Bobby Ogolla and the rest did this country great under the better management of Clement Gachanja. We were the best in most disciplines in the continent to be precise, there was no sport that was superior to the other, players were motivated to succeed at all times.

I also congratulate the Government and corporate world for their support towards the national football team when we played Nigeria.

However, they should request for accountability from FKF over the monies used.

Then, I will also request all the stakeholders involved including the newly appointed Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Arts and Culture, Dr Hassan Wario, to chip in and harmonize the running of football in the country.

At the moment, myself, Nairobi Chairman Dan Shikanda, NEC Member for Nyanza Tom Alila, and a couple of administrators from Coast have been suspended for the past year. The Federation has yet to investigate and hear our side of the story. Word has it that part of the agenda during the upcoming Annual General Meeting is to expel us.