‘It was a terrible
game. We were chasing shadows most of the time and we had no chance of getting
anything from that match’ these were the words of GorMahia’s Scottish coach,
Bobby Williamson. This was at the team’s arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport, from their 5-0 hiding at the hands of mighty Esperance
FC of Tunisia. With this humiliation, our mighty K’Ogalo was bundled out of
this year’s CAF Champions League, on 8-2 aggregate!
Back to the Nyayo
National Stadium, AFC Leopards were eliminated by South Africa’s Supersport
United, famously Matsatsantha, after a 2-2 draw, to bow out on a 4-2 aggregate.
The 2-0 loss a week earlier in Atteridgeville all but ended Ingw’es chances in
this year’s CAF Confederations Cup. Our two flag bearers in continental action
are out and we have to wait till 2015 to try our jinxed luck in continental
soccer.
To the diehard fans of
Ingw’e and GorMahia, their favorite teams were supposed to go some way in
battling for this trophies, never mind the fact that they were faced with the
continent’s best; the dreaded giants of African football. The fact that Tuzo
Milk and Mumias Sugar Companies have heavily bankrolled these giants of Kenyan football
further strengthened the hopes and expectations of the fans. But wait a minute,
the preparations or lack of it, broke the camel’s back.
The build-up by both
AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia, and preparations for their continental assault,
were at best mediocre! During the pre-season, South Africa’s Supersport United
defeated Barclays Premier League giants Manchester City 2-0. This was during
the latter’s pre-season tour of South Africa. To cut a long story short, Supersport
were simply gauging themselves against the world’s best, with the 2014 Caf
Confederations Cup in mind. Their opponents, our beloved Ingw’e were playing
some nondescripts team in town. The only meaningful opposition was in the 2014
Mapinduzi Cup in Tanzania. They then signed a host of new players and offthey
were good to go, at least the Kenyan way. They played in the Kenyan season
curtain-raiser, the KPLC Charity Cup, and miserably failed to deliver the
goods. Mathare United tossed them out in the first match of the knock-out
tournament and all we remember best is their fans going hay-wire and turning
Nyayo Stadium into chaos! However, this is story for another day.
In the K’Ogalo camp,
nothing was much different from their mashemejis!The
age-old Kenyan story of run-of-the-mill preparations. Harambee Stars are used
to this! The only meaningful build-up matches they tasted was in the knock-out
KPLC Charity Cup, where they were clobbered 3-0 by Sofapaka, who went on to
lift the cup. Just as in the Ingw’e den, the fans turned chaotic; chairs and
stones flew all over, as the police battled them, both inside and outside Nyayo
Stadium.
Far away in Tunis,
Esperance had top-notch preparations and a pre-season camp in Europe is not
sterile imagination! Not for a technically and tactically apt team as Esperance
showed a in the first leg played in Nairobi. The giants from Tunisia put three
past the green army and even the toughest of the die-hard mayienga followers, must have seen the end in sight. The return
match in Tunis was going to be some baptism of fire and the 5-0 crushing summed
it all. An aggregate of 8-2 just drew out the huge difference between these two
teams.
The writing is on the
wall. Our football clubs have a lot to do. Having the financial muscle as
Ingw’e and K’Ogalo have, and making prudent use of it are two different things.Our
clubs need professionals in their ranks, to scout talent and recruit players
based on the specifically needed tactical and technical aspects presently.
Signing sprees simply because money is available should not happen; otherwise
huge salaries will be paid out to players who cannot deliver the goods. Lastly,
preparations for any tournament, regional or continental, should be given the
needed attention and effort. Mediocre preparations as what AFC Leopards and Gor
Mahia did in their build-up to the dismal continental action should not be
repeated. You cannot play against County League teams and other nondescript
clubs, yet your opponent is camping in Europe or lining up friendlies against
the likes of Manchester City, Never! Learning from your superior opponents is
the spirit of the game. The technical benches of Ingw’e and K’Ogalo should have
learned from their Esperance and Supersport United counterparts. That way, we
will go up the football ladder!
Elsewhere, former Bayern
Munich’s president Uli Hoeness has just been sentenced to three and half years in
jail for tax evasion in his duty as the club’s president. Can our very own
football administrators be scrutinized for any football crime in the same way,
and made to pay for the same if found guilty?
No comments:
Post a Comment