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The Nairobian

Harambee Stars’ Okumbi demoted

Football

By Gilbert Wandera | Mar 29, 2018

Harambee Stars coach Stanley Okumbi has been redeployed to the national Under-20 team.

The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) decision was made just hours after Harambee Stars lost 3-2 to Central African Republic (CAR) in an international friendly played in Marrakech Morocco.

Frank Ouna, the Stars assistant coach, and goalkeeper trainer Haggai Azande have also been sent to the junior team.

According to FKF president Nick Mwendwa, the decision was to pave the way for a foreign coach, who is scheduled to take over at the helm of Harambee Stars on May 1.

Speaking from Morocco, Mwendwa said: “We have made the decision to redeploy Okumbi, Ouna, and Azande to the Under-20 team, given that the new coach is coming with his own assistant and goalkeeper trainer.”

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He said Okumbi was just holding brief at the national team after Paul Put resigned and was not even the one who picked the squad that played in Morocco.

“After Put resigned, there was no way we were going to allow a vacuum in the national team and that is why Okumbi was asked to hold brief. The team was picked by Put before he quit,” said the FKF president. Okumbi has been under a lot of pressure to quit following a poor outing in Morocco where Stars drew 2-2 to Comoros before the 3-2 loss to CAR.

He was appointed to the hot seat in 2016 but has failed to pick up positive results, including the team’s failure to make it to last year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Gabon after the team lost to Guinea Bissau home and away.

When Put was appointed three months ago, Okumbi was made his assistant and together the two won the regional Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup hosted by Kenya.

But when Put resigned, Okumbi was thrust into the limelight once again when he was tasked with taking charge of the team to Morocco for the friendly matches.

Okumbi’s first assignment will be to prepare for an international friendly match against Rwanda to be played in Machakos on Monday.

Separately, the national under-17 team has started preparing for next month’s Cecafa U17 Championship in Burundi.The tournament kicks off on April 8 and will run until April 22. The federation said in a statement that exposing the team to international tournaments was part of its agenda for long-term development of football.

“We have a policy that will ensure our junior national teams actively participate in the upcoming Caf and Fifa competitions.

“This will provide an opportunity for our junior players to not only experience international matches, but also learn vital aspects of the game that are key to their future football development,”