I am sorry but MYSA is a joke that has been perpetrated on Kenyans for more than 25 years now. MYSA has produced very few good players in the past few years and no MYSA product has succeeded in Europe.

The best measure of a succesful youth systems is whether your products succeed when they attend trials in Europe. MYSA has an abysmal record in this regard. This means they are doing a shoddy job of developing players.

Norway cup is a backyard tournament where MYSA teams play against teams made of kids from rich families. They do not go there to play the Manchester United U15 team or even the Ipswich town U12 team. They play against kids who just play for leisure.

Having youth leagues is good but it is not the issue. The key is to have structured youth development where coaches impart proper technique and tactical awareness to young players. Some things can only be learned when you are young.

As an example, if a child is forced to use their left foot when they 6 or 7 years old, then by the time they are 18, using their left foot will be completely natural. It becomes part of your muscle memory.

Kenyans should be supporting local clubs. But the government can also step in and assist local clubs. Just start by providing the top teams a permanent training ground. Most Kenyan players in the top league do not even have access to a training ground for more than 3 to 4 hours a day.

Sep Blatter and his cronies refused hiyo mambo ya government in football. It the government were to even glance towards football - that would be an immediate ban.

Kamkunji simply recruited the best players available.

Dennis Oliech is an exceptional player. He had what I would classify as sprinter speed. They say when he was young, he could run 100m in 10.5 sec. In fact at one point he was the fastst player in the FIFA video game.

However Oliech was not fundamentally sound. When he arrived in Europe, the fans and coaches noted that though he was talented, his talents were not refined i.e very raw. His passing and shooting were not accurate as they should be.

If Oliech had attended a decent football academy, then with his talents, he would have become a world class player.

By the way:

Kakamega high is the school that has the most superstars. They did it for the most part by recruiting good players away from other schools.

Perhaps we should think of engaging someone like Peter Orero (Upper Hill Principal) who has tapped and nurtured many top footballers. He's the one who brought Oliech, Mariga, Jerry Santos, Patrick Oboya, Jamal Mohamed, Geoffrey Kokoyo to Kamukunji Secondary School. He has now turned Upper Hill school into Nairobi's football champions and they are also one of the best in basketball.

I stand corrected on whether MYSA products have succeeded in Europe however note the following:

1. Oliech played for Dagoretti Santos during his youth years. He was recruited by Mathare to play for the senior team when he was well established. He was also recruited and played for Kakamega high as well as Kamkunji so calling him a MYSA product is tenuous

2. Jamal Mohamed hardly succeeded in Europe. He played for second tier Swedish side for 2 years which is a good achievement but is hardly a succesful career.

3. Robert Mambo is a product of Mombasa so I doubt he played for MYSA

One MYSA product who has actually succeeded in Europe is Arnold Origi.

However if as you say there are thousands of players who have been through MYSA then there should be a lot more MYSA players in Europe. The fact that there are only a handful means MYSA is failing to produce quality players. In fact Kakamega high has had a lot more success than MYSA when it comes to producing quality players.

True, the government thing applies to the national team, and the national football associations, otherwise I think fifa has no issue - if the government decided to have its own team in the league.

But I think even in Kenya, through parastatals and the police/military teams the government contributes towards the same in some way.

But in Kenya you definitely need the government support through out even to the national team, but our eating mentality means the government can not just give money, if they pump in lots of cash then they need to question the running of the same, when they ingilia hapo the ban comes pap.

C'mon Alba, hata wewe unajua these schools recruit talented players to play for them in school tournaments...very few are actual products of the school. Btw the players who went through the MYSA were still students so they obviously featured for their respective schools during school tournaments.

In my opinion we need to support academies like MYSA because clearly no one else seems interested in youth development. Btw what most people don't get about MYSA is that its not a football club, they have so many leagues (different age groups) where teams from across the county participate.

I agree we need to support MYSA.
But how many of these players actually went to MYSA at age 11 and graduated through the MYSA system? Oliech is not one of them. He went to Mathare United when he was well known.

Perhaps the Mulama bros are true MYSA products as is Arnold Origi.

And I wonder : When was the last time a MYSA product even went to Europe?

I support MYSA but I don't think they have been much of a success as people claim. If it is true that 14,000 players have passed through MYSA then they should have a lot more players in Europe. They should study what they are doing wrong.

[quote=kaka2za]The youth system has not delivered the expected results. It has failed spectacularly in England in particular. It would be difficult to name players in the top 10 EPL teams who are products of the youth system.It worked in Ajax but has not been replicated elsewhere.
A trend is emerging in which youth prodigies are falling by the way side and and players are coming of age quite late in the careers. Did anybody know of Drogba in his youth days?

http://www.just-football...dy-adu-martin-odegaard/

Meanwhile...

http://mobile.nation.co....l/-/84saye/-/index.html[/quote]

The problem with the youth system in Europe is that whenever a 15 or 16 year old shows potential they are hyped and handed a huge contract by one of the big teams, next thing you know they are thrown straight into the senior team. When these kids fail to perform in a couple of games they are branded flops and shipped out on loan......this definitely affects their confidence. Take a look at Chelsea how many young players do they have out on loan, some of them were hyped as the next big thing.