What did Harambee Stars achieve by going to Brazil?

I’m taking a break from my daily World Cup today to talk about this other team that went to Brazil without really qualifying for the World Cup. I think you, my regular reader, also deserve a cooling break from an unpredictable World Cup that Brazil 2014 has come to be.

Imagine Costa Rica is still in the World Cup! Yes, they are in the Quarter Finals! Costa Rica is that fly that enters the living room and despite attempts to whisk it away it stays in some corner and sporadically flies around much to the chagrin of hosts and amusement of guests. I am that host that is not taking this kindly, so I deviate today.

Harambee Stars are back from Brazil. They haven’t been eliminated from the competition but they are back. They were not in any competition in the first place, but point is they are back.

The Government of Kenya in its wisdom found it fit to reward Harambee Stars for their superb Cecafa show by giving them a treat to sample the wonders of Brazil. I find this both funny and stupid at the same time. Funny because we made a fool out of ourselves to applaud the Government’s move on this. There are those times you buy your child a toy that the child doesn’t really need. You can’t buy your daughter a toy car. Girls need dolls!  

And when buying your children toys, look around the house for priorities. How do you spend a whole load of money on expensive toys yet you know the next term dates are approaching and this child needs to be in proper set of mind to be in school? Will you even afford school fees for the next term? And after buying the most expensive gift this year, what will you give this child on next year’s birthday?

I’m not sure the Brazil tour has helped the team get any motivation for future assignments. Instead, it has helped us reward mediocrity. First, Coach Adel Amrouche has not convinced Kenyans that he deserves to be heading our national team. Winning Cecafa is not enough for him to be a “god”. 

We recently struggled to beat a handicapped Comoros Island and still we are merely in the pre-qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations but coach Amrouche feels his team is on top of things and he will always demonstrate that with his arrogance after squeezing lucky wins over decimal teams.

What the Government incentive to Harambee Stars does is to induce a sense of complacence in the team. The boys now think they are ok. And if State House thinks they are ok, who are we to doubt that? The cinch is,  Amrouche must be made to work for what he gets from Kenya. Currently, his report card reads ‘below average’ yet we still pay for his unwarranted trips abroad with the boys.

By the way, several World Cup matches later and I haven’t seen our highly publicised Fifa Referee Aden Marwa on the touchline. I can’t claim to have watched all the matches but I haven’t even heard that someone saw him- not even on the stands. Or could it be that he’s being preserved for the Final? It better be.