Give us a win, against any nation, Michel

By Omulo Okoth

Nairobi, Kenya: The British became impatient with Team GB. The Olympic hosts did not win any medal as the last Olympics entered its third day.

On the third day, all the tabloids felt the pulse of the Britons. They ran a similar headline. “Where are the medals?” “Give us medals, we don’t care, any medal will do.”

The country heaved a sigh of relief when that same day, Lizzie Armitstead claimed GB’s first medal with silver in women’s road race.

The Olympic hosts reached cloud seven when rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning triumphed, ending Britain’s five-day wait for gold, as 25,000 screaming fans cheered them to victory.

Harambee Stars coach Frenchman Henri Michel doesn’t think highly of the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup, which is his entitlement.

But as a country, which has employed his services, and which is a founder member of the regional footballing ruling body, we don’t agree.

Since being hired by Football Kenya Limited (FKF) on August 28, Stars have played South Africa and Tanzania. They lost both matches, 2-0 and 1-0 respectively.

The Kenyan football lovers are eager for a win against any country and Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup, which the Frenchman has dismissed twice, would have provided that opportunity to prove why he thinks the teams from this region are not up to scratch.

South Africa is a big nation. Losing to them was not a big deal. But the Tanzanian match left Kenyans staring at one another.

The defeat to Tanzania, rated below Kenyans in Fifa ranking, certainly doesn’t befit a person whose job description includes turning around Kenyan football fortunes.

May be it is too early to make conclusions, but the Frenchman must know that we Kenyans are a very impatient lot. He would do himself a lot of good by speaking to them in a manner that convinces them that something positive is in the offing. Like what he said before the Tanzanian match:

“We need to rectify the mistakes identified when we last played against South Africa. This is an opportunity for the squad to further get used to each other as well as get into the competitive schedule.”

But his actions after the match, which they lost, won’t go down well with the Kenyan public.

He named two teams, the senior one to prepare for Africa Home Nations Championships (CHAN) match against Burundi and the under-23 side to play in Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.

But even after that he ‘poached’ three players from the Kampala-bound team – US-based Lawrence Olum, Tusker goalkeeper Boniface Oluoch and KCB’s midfielder Paul Mungai.

This only confirms his dismissive mien to matters Cecafa.

As I am writing this column, the Under-23 side, under James Nandwa are preparing to play Uganda Cranes later in the day.

I know Kenyans are wondering when Harambee Stars will win their first match under coach Henri Michel. We don’t care against which team. We need a win.

Pastor Bob B, a popular blogger, has this to say about matching up our words with our attitudes and with our actions.

“I can’t speak prosperity over my life and be lazy; I can’t speak healing over my life if I am going to live an unhealthy life style.”

Emmanuel Oluwatosin, a Nigerian ICT guru, succinctly says: Are you fulfilling your dreams? Or you are still in the realm of talking? Are you matching your talking with corresponding actions? If your actions are far from your words, then you need to take a break and think deep. You need to move from the group of “talkers” to “doers”. Most successful people in this world are those who have learnt to match their actions with their words.

Talkers are those people with great ideas or great intentions, but just never follow through with action. Michel should walk the talk and convince us that we are in safe pair of hands.

 

— The writer is The Standard Sports Editor [email protected]