How Hey became our manager still baffles me!

Football in a way is a mirror image of kenya's state of affairs in other spheres. The good thing about sports such as football unlike politics is that what you put in is what you get out. In politics we can cheat/gloss over it and pretend we are doing well yet we all know we are a failure. We are a country that really believes in offices papers, policies and manifestos and output of those of offices, papers, constitutions etc.

Look, we are being delusional and typical of kenyan behavior when lie that our problem at Harrambee stars is striking. I have watched most of Harrambee stars games and they are very poor in all spheres. basic ball control, in-game reading and intepretation, technical appreciation, planning, organization etc. We seem to play toof! twende all the time. The solution to all this is simple let's go and start again and keep everyone honest. Human and sports science has proven that the best time to teach a technique in sport is 4- 7 years age because a human's body is most agile at this time. Where do you find the highest number of 4 -7 yr olds - SCHOOL. FKF needs to roll out a development program that is centered on the school structure. Get as many teachers/games masters to be trained as FIFA coaches and FIFA referees. Work with ministry of education and School sports associations. Fund this consistently and mind you FIFA will give you all the money you need for such a blue print. The end result is that you will have so many 18yr olds at the end of the school cycle as accomplished and complete footballers well taught and coached and reffed. At club and national team level you only advance organization, mental capacity and temperament and BINGO you have Harrambee stars at world cup. I balk when I hear this nonsense of academies. The truth is that you will probably have 5 academies in the whole country which probably run during the 3 school holiday months a year and at some point most parents will insist on their kids spending time studying and not at these academies especially nearing final years - read disruption. Compare this with hundreds of thousands of schools and see what you would end up with. And by the way that is how Rugby got to where it is. Remember when Masiga and Obwaka played, the football development aligned to the school structure but was not immersed fully but the results of the half efforts were evident!

I managed my campus football team for 2 years. Based on our performances in friendlies against Harambee Stars, Gor Mahia, Mathare United, Kisumu Posta,Karuri Posta, Karuturi, Jericho All Stars, Ndumbuini Rising, Congo Boys, I can tell you that brains is what is missing from our footballers.

Our campus team would not be as fit as those teams but would be very competitive, and would score goals against any of the teams. The only teams that we didnt beat were Harambee Stars ( 3-1, we missed 3 penalties), Gor Mahia (2-1, Bramwell Mwololo sent 2 of our defenders to the sick bay) and Mathare United (1-0).

Even though our players would not be fit, we had ball posession and when we had chances our strikers took them. The bigger teams would beat us because they could muscle our strikers of the ball but in mid there was only one winner. All in all, I observed that the strikers, the likes of Maurice Sunguti were only good at blasting way ward balls and were never calm on the ball(Simeon Mulama and a young Mathare were excellent though!).

We faced tougher competition from KU,USIU, Chiromo etc compared to the league clubs. That was because brains were encountering brains. ION the reason Barca has done very well is that their players seem to be quite bright. Just review comments made by the likes of Messi, Fabregas, Pedro, Piue, Puyol and you will note that they are not the average footballer. I think FKF a part from under age competitions needs to look far and wide when selecting the nation team.

'Intelligent' ball play is important, but as you have noted, it is not the only, or even a major determinant for victory.

If you think Mathare has had good players like Mulama, then you must give credit to the system of training and organization shown by MYSA which through a holistic approach has exposed the child from the slum to what may be called 'intelligence'.

I am part of an 'academy' in which children who don't necessarily perform well in school are exposed to a 'progressive' culture that encourages confidence and exposure to a wide range of activities, and are given what you may call coaching in intelligent ball play, and the results are impressive!

So even the coaching system and quality are important.

All these factors go to the cultural environment of our organizations, and not so much on individual aptitudes.