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The Nairobian

FOCUS ON POSITIVES: Coach Bobby defends Harambee Stars’ lack of goals, urges constructive vibe

Sports

By Gilbert Wandera | Oct 13, 2015

HARAMBEE STARS vs MAURITIUS WORLD CUP QUALIFIER Kenya Harambee Stars Eric Omondi(L) and Jonathan Bru of Mauritius battle for ball possession during their World Cup qualifier at Kasarani Stadium on Sunday 11/10/15. They draw 0-0. PHOTO.BONIFACE OKENDO

Despite Harambee Stars failing to beat Mauritius at home in Sunday’s 2018 World Cup match, coach Bobby Williamson insists on seeing the positives in that result.
Williamson’s sentiments came on the back of a 0-0 draw with Mauritius despite winning the first leg 5-2 away from home.

Speaking a day after the match, Williamson said: “I am not disappointed about the result and would rather focus on the positives that we saw on Sunday. The fact is we had a lot of new players coming through and were very impressive.

“Michael Olunga did well, Johanna Omollo should have scored and Eric Johanna had a tremendous game. Their performance means we have a lot of competition in midfield.”
Williamson further admitted that the local players may have been under a lot of pressure to score and this affected their performance.

MEDIA PRESSURE

“It is possible that they were under a lot of pressure especially playing at home. The pressure was mostly from the media and I would request them to be more positive and encourage the team. The fans don’t put pressure on the team because they come to cheer them,” he said.

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He further observed that had Harambee Stars scored a goal in the match, then it would have opened the way for more goals. “A lot of our fans came to the stadium expecting us to score goals because we had a healthy advantage in the first leg.

“But that is not football. Furthermore, I believe the situation would have been different had we scored a goal. They would have come out and exposed themselves at the back, allowing us to score even more goals,” he pointed out.
Williamson is also happy that Kenya will start their next qualifier match against Cape Verde at home and believes this will give him enough time to prepare.

“The best part about the Cape Verde match is that we are starting at home. It means that we have more time to prepare.

“The truth is that we did not have good preparations for the Mauritius match. Furthermore, we are also not sure of having the foreign-based players early and so we just need to be well prepared with what we have,” said Williamsom.

Harambee Stars will host Cape Verde on November 13 at Nyayo Stadium before playing the return match four days later away.

The win against Mauritius was, however, clouded by complaints over unpaid allowances. A number of players complained they had not been paid even after the win and were left on their own in the hotel.

But contacted FKF chairman Sam Nyamweya who admitted to the fact said the government has promised to clear the pending allowances.

“Government had committed to pay all the allowances for the match against Mauritius and we are now asking the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts to honour their pledge because honestly the team has shown exemplary patriotism to play the match before their allowances are settled and on behalf of the Kenyan people.

“The national team is the responsibility of the Government and we are grateful for the commitment they gave on allowances for this fixture.

“Our hope is that the Government will work with us in preparation for the next match because Cape Verde are not an easy team to play against,” he said.