For as long as I live, I’ll always be indebted to Divock Origi. This boy did what the much fancied Romelu Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini or Eden Hazard couldn’t. Coming into this World Cup, anybody who heard his name for the first time would go like, Divock who? But trust this youngster to excel where few have.

I’m still amazed that while world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to find his scoring boots, Origi scored an invaluable gem for Belgium. The young man, who replaced the ineffective Lukaku in the 57th minute, is only 19 years old and became Belgium’s youngest ever World Cup goal scorer. Great feat there.

Though the ‘Kenyan’, a Luo, who also is a Belgian (he was born there to former Harambee Stars striker Mike Okoth), didn’t have an out-of this-world kind of a show against Russia, he surely made me proud (I  know most of Kenyans were).

Granted, he at times had some instances that betrayed his vision, choice of runs and decisions, but the boy’s got talent, no doubt. In the midst of the political hating going on in the country, we all forgot our differences and cheered him on.

Being the hypocrites we are, immediately after the final whistle, we tossed Origi’s triumph through the nearest window and went back to our usual selves; firing tribal vitriol like never before…

It’s because of this boy that I heard the name Kenya being mentioned in a Fifa World ,and not for the wrong reasons (wouldn’t have cared if it was, anyway). But the commentator was praising Origi, saying the young scorer was son of a former Kenya striker, Mike Okoth…awesome, just awesome!

But wait a minute; this is hardly going to help Origi. Other than his goal, he showed little that is likely to strike fear into the heart of tournament defences. Truth be told, he’s still a naive fellow, but with immense talent and great humility. Even in time of glory, where you and I would have run across the field like mad men, the tall, dark and handsome Origi was humbled.

“It was an important goal, but I thought we created it as a team,” Origi said in a television interview. “I thought we showed today that we are mentally strong.”

That’s unpretentiousness at its best, fellow Kenyans.

That said; just in the same vein, we should also celebrate, when athletes Bernard Lagat of USA, Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer, or when Saif Saaeed Shaheen formerly Stephen Cherono are going through their paces. They are all ‘Kenyans’, but representing their adopted countries.

So, if we can celebrate a Belgian, who has never represented Kenyan at any level, then why can’t we do the same to any compatriot, whether they’re representing our country, or not? Talk of double standards!

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Africa’s watching, the continent is expectant. We have been waiting for this moment for so long. I’m talking about the 38th match of the Fifa World Cup between Ivory Coast and Greece. Africa’s most decorated team (I’m talking about individual talent), is expected to do Africans proud.  Other than Algeria, all four of the big African teams at Brazil 2014 – Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana – have had a less-than-convincing start. Make us proud, please!