Coach Hey’s absence ahead of crucial matches is worrying

It is two weeks today since national football team Harambee Stars returned from Mozambique without coach Antoine Hey.

Hey was expected in the country from holiday in Germany a week after the tie in Maputo in which stars lost 1-0, but his continued absence less than 20 days before Kenya take on Tunisia on October 10 in Tunis in a 2010 World Cup/ Africa Cup of Nations qualifier is causing unnecessary anxiety among players and football stakeholders.

Worse still, Minister for Sports Hellen Sambili has not made any official communication since admitting that her ministry cannot afford Hey’s salary.

In countries where he has worked, the coach has had a tendency to quit his job while on foreign assignments and football fans are at a loss as to whether he has absconded here too.

Before travelling to Mozambique, Hey was in the country two months earlier to prepare the national team for the assignment.

The world over, expatriates who work in other countries as national team coaches have had to put up in respective work stations to scout for talent during local league matches and blend well with the players.

It is our considered opinion that Hey should spend more time in Kenya to enable him have a better understanding of local players instead of spending much time in his native Germany.

We also feel the Government should speak out over Hey’s whereabouts to quell anxiety among fans.

The team needs to go to camp for the match against Tunisia and their next assignment against Nigeria in Nairobi on November 14.