No room for laxity as busy 2018 awaits Harambee Stars

Harambee Stars' goalkeeper Patrick Matasi during this year's Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup final in Machakos on December 17. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Kenya’s failure to win their first match of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sierra Leone might return to haunt the team’s ambitions as the tournament resumes next year.

Harambee Stars lost 2-1 to the West African nation and with pending fixtures against Ghana and Ethiopia on the cards, the team, now under Paul Put, has a lot of work to do.

The Belgian seems to have turned around Stars’ fortunes, especially after winning the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup held in Kenya, despite having been in charge for only two weeks.

This performance was the highlight of Harambee Star’s show in a year that had a lot to write about.

The year began on a sour note with Football Kenya Federation (FKF) insisting on implementing the new club licensing rules.

Several clubs, among them Sofapaka and now relegated Muhoroni Youth, failed to meet the cut and FKF called for their relegation from the top tier. It took the intervention of the Sports Disputes Tribunal to have the two clubs reinstated.

The tribunal was also called to adjudicate between FKF and Kenyan Premier League (KPL) after the federation insisted on expanding the top tier league to have 18 teams from the current 16.

With the case being heard at the tribunal, it delayed the league kickoff, but in the end, FKF won after the tribunal ruled that as custodians of football in the country, they have the right to determine the size of the league.

But it is the poor performance of Harambee Stars that dominated news headlines in the past year, overshadowing any good work done by the federation, perhaps an indication that a lot of effort needs to be put in place to help the team qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals to be held in Cameroon.

Prior to their 2-1 loss to Sierra Leone on June 10, the team played in three friendly matches and even picked a famous 2-1 win over Democratic Republic of Congo in Machakos.

Losses to Iraq and Thailand in October sunk Stars further down the Fifa rankings and raised further hostility from the unforgiving fans towards the team. It was therefore a major relief when the federation made changes to the technical bench bringing in Paul Put for Stanley Okumbi, who was relegated to the assistant coach role.

“We hope to have a better year. We have good plans for the team and I ask fans to rally behind us as we begin another chapter next year,” said FKF President, Nick Mwendwa.

Away from Harambee Stars, the federation embarked on a serious program to train coaches with more than 2,000 tacticians undergoing training in various parts of the country. The training, which was conducted by Technical Director Andreas Spier, also aims at coming up with a common curriculum for local football. The curriculum is being developed by Kenyatta University in conjunction with the federation.

Another milestone of note is the opening up of talent centres in the country in a bid to identify and nurture talent.

One such institution that has been identified for this purpose is Juja Preparatory School. The school is among eight others that will be used in tapping and nurturing talent in Kenya.

The partnership will see FKF provide top equipment and trained coaches to the schools as players continue studying at the institutions.

“Our aim is to combine education and elite football. We need football players who are intelligent and understand what coaches require of them,” said FKF Technical Director Andreas Spier

Juja Preparatory and Senior Schools Director Richard Muigai said the institution has already setup football fields, including a Seven-a-side Astroturf pitch.

“We have set up quality fields for the programme. We have also employed full time teachers and coaches to implement the curriculum,” said Muigai

“Our collaboration with FKF is a good venture. We believe it will elevate the level of football in this country.”

On his part, Mwendwa said the federation will continue to support youth development, adding that FKF has set up systems to help players development from a young age.

“We have a syllabus in place. We have trained over 2,000 coaches, who will benefit from the centres of excellence,” said Mwendwa.

Another first for the federation is the establishment of Under-13 and Under-15 leagues across the country in another move to tap talent from the grassroots level