I recently stumbled on an archived 1982 copy of The Weekly Review – the Hilary Ngweno original, not the current version being published by NMG – at the Nation Centre library that had a juicy article of Kenya’s legendary goalkeeper Mahmoud Abbas for its cover story.
Incredibly, that particular issue of the once popular weekly political magazine dedicated nine straight pages to the heroics of Abbas at that year’s East and Central African Challenge Cup, which Harambee Stars clinched after prevailing over hosts Uganda in a bad-tempered final match at Nakivubo Stadium.
During that brutal contest, Kenyan center back John “Bobby” Ogolla received six stitches for a deep cut on his forehead but remarkably the “Six Million Dollar Man” still played the entire match, which was eventually settled on penalties after a 1-1 stalemate. True to form, Abbas saved three penalties to secure the second of the three back-to-back regional trophies Kenya won between 1981 and 1983.
No wonder the late Ngweno shoved aside all the major political stories of that week and spared acres of space on his publication to Abbas and the triumphant Harambee Stars squad.
Now, with all due respect, who – apart from maybe Michael Olunga – in the current Harambee Stars can command a full page in any serious publication? I say none! Not after last week’s embarrassing loss to South Sudan in an international friendly match in Nairobi. How in hell, did a Kenyan team that largely comprised foreign-based players lose to a hurriedly assembled nondescript squad of asylum seekers?
Guess what? Kenyan fans got scammed by that inconsequential 2-1 win over Qatar a few days earlier. The truth is the current Kenyan national team is just not up to scratch.
There was this joke that while Olunga and company jetted out to their respective foreign bases immediately after the match, nearly the entire lot of the jubilant South Sudanese squad hopped into the next matatu to continue the party in their Eastlands neighbourhoods. From a Kenyan point of view, I saw nothing funny in that joke.
But as expected, Kenya’s colourless coach Engin Firat attempted to absolve himself for his team’s shortcomings with some very lame excuses. He claimed that Kenya lacks enough creative players and that he is the only person relied upon to organise friendly matches for Kenya. What nonsense!
I have three questions for Mr Firat. When did you realise that you lack the so-called creative players in your squad? Why didn’t you say so after the Qatar match? And who told you it is your job to organise friendly matches?
This has nothing to do with the lack of creative players. Firat is just a clueless coach. What, for instance, is his justification for snubbing the best players in the Kenyan league for such friendly matches? A case in point is Gor Mahia’s free-scoring striker Benson Omalla who Firat has repeatedly overlooked for international duty.
That all-conquering Harambee Stars team of 1982, under coach Marshall Mulwa, was actually Gor Mahia-AFC Leopards United by another name. Why can’t Firat borrow from Mulwa’s book and draft more local-based players into his team for exposure, if not for anything else? Or better still, FKF could as well disband this miserable Harambee Stars squad and make Gor Mahia our national team.
