Why Harambee Stars coach Adel Amrouche still needs Oliech in his plans

By AYOKI ONYANGO

Harambee Stars coach Adel Amrouche got it all wrong.  Amrouche started his coaching stint in Kenya on a wrong foot.

Any foreign coach who takes up coaching job in any country must first of all find out the nature, the character and desire of the people of that country and how the citizens regard football.

Unlike countries such as Brazil, Italy and Argentina where football is second religion, in Kenya, politics comes first, then religion followed by sports in general but football in particular.

A foreign coach must identify former great football players and bring them to a round table. These former players will help the foreign coach to identity current and future talents to be used in his squad.

So Amrouche did not bother to look for people like Joe Masiga, Joe Kadenge, Mohammed Kheri, Bobby Ogolla and Austin Oduor, to mention but a few to help him understand the nitty gritty of Kenya’s football.

Again any foreign coach who disregards stars of any county will often find it difficult to succeed in his job. Amrouche started by treating Kenyan’s idol Dennis Oliech with contempt.

In Kenya, Oliech is treated in the football fraternity as demi god, having helped Kenyan to achieve a lot in football. It must be remembered that Oliech almost single-handedly took Harambee Stars to their last African Cup of Nations finals in Tunisia in 2004, where he equally performed well that he was approached with a passport of a Gulf nation, which he rejected.

Former German school teacher turned coach Antoine Hey sidelined Oliech for some important matches. Hey ran away without being sacked when he stared failing.

And when the Kenyan football super star was recalled by a caretaker coach, he scored at Kasarani against the Sugar Eagles of Nigeria to the excitement of fans and to the chagrin of Hey.

Super stars are known worldwide to call the shots in their respective countries. Diego Maradona was so influential to the extent that the coach would ask him to help in the Argentina’s team selection.

He once told coach Carlos Bilardo: “I prefer to partner with Claudio Cannigia and not Gorge Buruchaga.” Zinadine Zidane also advised the French coach Aime Jacquet to drop Nicholas Anelka for David Trezigett because Zidane felt Trezigett was scoring more goals when given good passes than Anelka.

Oliech is still too young to retire from international football. After all, he still plays for French Ligue 1 club FC Ajaccio. If we had many stars  like Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast, we can afford to sideline one and the country moves on.

This is not the case with Kenya, which does not have many star players. So Amrouche must reconcile with Oliech and reinstate him. Kenya needs success in football so that we can participate in major continental and global competitions.

— The writer is a football analyst and freelance journalist