Can Mathare rise again? ‘Slum Boys’ have been less than inspiring despite winning 2008 league title

Mathare United's John Mwangi (left) battle for ball control against Collins Agade of Bandari FC during the Kariobangi Sharks preseason Tournament at Utalii Grounds on January 26, 2018. Mathare United FC won 2-1. [Stafford Ondego]

More is expected from a side that is said to have one of the best youth development structures in Kenya.

It is 3:02pm on a sunny afternoon at the Goan grounds in Pangani, Nairobi, and Mathare United are warming up.

The football field is not what you would expect for a Kenyan Premier League side, but the boys, who attack the ball with little mercy, epitomise the real struggles local players experience.

Since 2007, Mathare, league winners in 2008, have called this place home. Head coach Francis Kimanzi is taking his charges through the paces and the 90-minute training session is punctuated by well-timed water breaks.

That’s how Kimanzi wants it; that’s how it has been for the past three years while he has been in charge.

“We need to lay a strong foundation. That is the most important thing. Players who were struggling have now matured,” says Kimanzi.

Granted, the current team lacks in most aspects when compared to the 1998 or 2008 title winning squads. For instance, they no longer have the frame of defender Sammy Kiongi and neither do the defence-opening passes of John Kureshi exist anymore.

Titus Mulama and his deft touches are long gone while Maurice Wambua and Asman Ngaywa’s thirst for goals dried up as the big boys moved on.

But in the young Mathare team, all that seems to be coming back again.

“We have new players in the squad. We need more depth than we had last year,” says Kimanzi.

Since they won their first major title, the 1998 Moi Golden Cup, Mathare’s journey through top flight football can be summed up as a rollercoaster ride.

First, Kimanzi led the youngsters to their maiden title, winning it with style and flamboyance; their on-point passing and technique bewildering many a team in a way that few could envisage.

But that was then. Last season, they came close to receiving the kiss of death. Their nine-year stay in the premier league was under threat as they finished 13th on the log with 39 points.

That they left it late before surviving the axe tells part of the story - endurance. For some players, who would otherwise be sniffing glue or rummaging through garbage dumps, endurance was key.

“Teamwork did the trick. The players began to believe in themselves at the start of the second leg,” said team captain George ‘Wise’ Owino.