Rampant Injuries in KPL are a sign of bigger problems in local game

Michael Essien was outstanding under Jose’ Morinho that Chelsea fans nick named him ‘the bison’ (the polar wilderbeast) for his high work rate. He got injured in early 2010; missed the world cup and stayed out of competitive football until early this year. This is in Europe where sports medical facilities are top notch. Hold that thought and track with me.

Across London we meet Aaron Ramsey who fractured his leg in 2010-11 season that TV stations chose to sensor the footage. In less than a year, he was on the pitch scoring crucial goals for Arsenal. It is unwise to compare injuries as many physiological factors go into healing but let us take a look at local players.

Cross the oceans and just in case you have forgotten him- George Owino of Sofapaka has not seen action for close to one year now due to a nagging knee injury. Abdilatiff Mohamed also of Sofapaka is still sidelined for over a year now due to a knee injury as well.

Crispin ‘Alfy’ Olando of Tusker has not seen action this season so is Hesky Wanyama of Sofapaka. Emmanuel Tostao of Leopards has been out for several weeks while Gor Mahia’s Edwin Lavatsa so action for the first time last weekend against KCB since he got an injury last year.

Last season, several players in KPL were injured off the ball in circumstances that could make a referee issue a caution card for acting. Mathare United goalkeeper Martin Musalia just went down during training with a damaged knee.

The cases are many and I bet every KPL team has a fair share of injury worries. One contributing factor to injury is our poor playing surface. Running with football boots on an uneven surface will put pressure on the ankle. When the ankle resists the pressure it is passed to the knee which has very sensitive ligaments.

What happens when a player is injured beyond the ice cubes and deep heat spray later? There must be something lacking in not only injury management but rehabilitation back to active playing. No sooner had the report that Abdilatif had resumed training reached the media than word came that he was back at the operating table. Nobody knows how long he will watch his colleagues play from the terraces.

The media reported a while back that a sports injury rehabilitation centre will be set up in Eldoret. This could be an Athletics Kenya initiative but I urge NOCK to take it up and set up one in Nairobi. This is not only a football problem but other sports as well. The ones who recover quickly from their injuries may not be aware of future effects of lack of proper injury management.

If things are this bad in KPL, how many players are we losing in the lower leagues? These players play on surfaces that make the not so good Nyayo Stadium surface look top notch. The easier option adopted by FIFA to sort out the poor playing surface for third world nations is artificial turf. These could help but we cannot convert all our thin grass filled football fields into astro turf.

Injuries lead to loss of talent in all sports disciplines at the grass roots level. The common remedy for sports related injury is hot water massage and to the privileged a deep heat cream massage will be fulfilling. These facilities can be set up in conjunction with existing hospitals. This will enable the hospitals to offer the services to the general public so as to raise revenue to subsidize the service for our sportsmen.

On the flip side, rate of injury recovery is directly proportional to age. The examples I have given above from the EPL of Michael Essien and Ramsey will buttress my argument. By the time an African player overcomes the poor structural and moral hurdles to get to European leagues, he is in his mid twenties. They tend to alter their ages so as to attract better contracts.

To this end Michael Essien may not be as young as he claims to be hence the struggle to recover and reclaim match fitness. While the likes of Aaron Ramsey benefit from the swift system in Europe to break into the big league at the prime of their youth.

 To save our players agony of slow recovery let us clear the bottlenecks in player identification and development. This will make them play their best football when their body can take the pressure. When the body cannot absorb the rigorous regimen of training and congested fixtures, injuries lurks in the opposing player’s shadow.

Last but not least is letting only trained personnel train and handle players. Experience has a place but expertise is crucial. When we let coaches who do not know the importance of fitness to handle players, he is setting them up for injury. When medics who are not experienced in sports related injuries manage the players; it leads to injury aggravation.

Injury is the occupational hazard of every sports men and women thus inevitable. Minimizing the conditions that lead to or aggravate injury will protect our players and save them from unnecessary pain. It involves capital investment but money is never a problem where there is a will and vision to solve a problem. I hope someone sitting behind a desk opposite Nakumatt Mega is reading this.

Sofapaka scratch Leopards' wounds

Sofapaka 2-1 AFC Leopards

The match between these two teams is becoming more of pride than the three points. The turn around for the 'cat fight' was Sofapaka's former Ugandan tactician Sam Ssibwa who chided ingwe fans in 2010 when his boys overturned a 2-0 lead to beat Leopards 4-2. Last season, Sofapaka won first leg encounter 3-1 then Leopards replied by the same margin in the second leg.

The weather was good, so the two teams took time sizing up each other. Sofapaka tried to go forward and Leopards replied with good runs engineered by Ben Mang'oli and Mike Baraza in the midfield. Leopards without injured Eric Masika, which sent skipper Imbalambala to the defence and Allan Wanga's absence meant a change in approach.

In brief, Sofapaka had a potent attack, while Leopards did not and that made the difference. So where did Sofapaka beat ingwe the hardest? The flanks, Hashim Mukhwana and Abdalla Juma locked out Etemesi and Oscar Kadenge completely. Etemesi fell deep while Kadenge got lost and was replaced by Okwemba Charles.

Midfield

Leopards have lacked a ball playing midfielder. Kinje is not your typical single strength midfielder. He is not an astute passer, destroyer nor ball player. He is a good ball controller but lacks the flow that moves the ball in the midfield.

Ingwe started with a 4-2-3-1 system on offensive. Kinje and Mang'oli holding with Baraza in the centre with Kadenge and Etemesi on the wings. Sofapaka challenged this by defending in a 5-4-1 system. Situma went in to cover defense while Mussa Mudde took up the holding role with Mieno. John Njoroge and Anthony Kimani fell deep for the cover. With Mudde facing left footed Baraza on his right foot, Baraza found himself displacing the left winger to find space.

Skipper James Situma was master destroyer, as the main holding midfielder. Mudde was the passing midfielder while Mieno alternated from the centre to assisting Baraza upfront. The Sofapaka 3 man midfield of Situma, Mudde and Mieno in a 4-1-4-1 system plays vertically with two wingers forming a cross or diamond with Mudde at the centre. This made sure that Situma picked Kinje and Mudde and Mieno changed on Ben Mang'oli and Mike Baraza. AFC was pinned.

Defence

Edgar Ochieng' in Sofapaka defense is no doubt a good centre half, but his speed has deteriorated a great deal. He lacks good recovery, so Eugene Asike came out as over worked, but the good thing is Situma always offered cover. Hashim and Abdalla, were not afraid to go forward unlike their ingwe opposite numbers.

Ugandan import Abbas Kiwalabye is a good defender, but was too cautious going forward. Ammon Muchiri I believe has learned his weaknesses in recovering back to space after a turn over and so never ventured far from the half way line. This inhibited Leopards from launching their trademark attacks from the flank as Oscar Kadenge and Etemesi lacked close supply and instant cover.

Nahimana and Imbalambala play the same type of hard tackling football, when Mudde pin point crosse went over Nahimana, Imbalambala was still going back to cover and watched as John Baraza headed hom his eleventh goal of the season. They both are cautious getting out of space, a factor that contributed to the second goal.

Attack
Ingwe's attack was lacklusture. Victor Ochieng' was a pale shadow of his former self when placed as a central striker. With Mike Baraza opting to run to the left, leaving hard working Situma or Edgar Ochieng' to lock out Victor to the crosses.

When Okwemba came in the second half and took up the central midfield role, there was change in Leoprads attack. He released Kinje and Mang'oli to share the spoilers roles and Mike Baraza to pile pressure upfront. Though Okwemba has lost the flavour that made him an attraction in the past.

John Baraza has rediscovered his form- a good  wine that gets better with age. He is good off the ball, a factor that makes him a predator in KPL. He watched as the defensive minded Mudde went off to the right to pick Hashim's pass then placed himself just behind Nahimana in anticipation of the cross. He pulled out of the goal moth pack to receive a pass from the right, tuned to his lethal left foot and fired a shot past Matasi. He deserved man-of-match.

Okwemba tapped wide an open shot he got in the dying minutes as the match seemed to be going to Sofapaka.

Substitutes
When Mudded walked out injured, Bob Mugalia came in to take up the right wing position pushing Muki Kimani into the midfield. This displaced Kimani as he got lost in the match and was brought off for Felly Mulumba who coverd the void left by Mudde. Sofapaka finished the match with 5 defenders, as Leopards piled pressure.

Jimmy Bageya came in for Victor Ochieng' and won the free kick that Imbalambala converted for the consolation goal. Of all the substitutions, these two made a mark as Leopard looked for an equalizer and Sofapaka stood their ground.

Transfers
Sofapaka will be happy to keep Mudde for a few more months into the second leg. Meanwhile Collins Okoth will be a good cover for Mudde and Situma. Selenga Demonde's return 'home' is a prodigal sons return, he will have to find a place on the table for himself.

Leopards must look at their midfield very keenly. KPL lacks the typical central midfielders type of ball players. Jan Koops must go out of his way and bring in a ball player to change the attack from the flanks to the centre. Without that, as Sammy 'pamzo' Omollo says, they will remain predictable.

Sofapaka goes into the one month mid-season break on top of the log with 32 points. AFC Leopards have a match in hand against SoNy Sugar, to trim the gap to two points.

Kimanzi's deslike for short players..

I salute Francis Kimanzi, head coach of our national team Harambee Stars. I have respect for you as your work exhibits a thought process. I have also realized you take coaching seriously- a good thing if you quit playing early to become a tactician.

You are a good planner as well in the way you have short listed local based players, while taking your time on the short supply of foreign based players at your disposal. You have done a good job thus far and for that receive a pat on the back.

I have got some answers why Patrick Kagogo, Salim Kinje and Idrissa Rajab were released and John Onami retained by Sofapaka under your watch. It is not because they are foreigners but rather because nature that endowed them with football talent denied them height.

Kenya is endowed in many ways but also comes short in other areas and football is one of them. Our impatience always leaves us short of time and our stinginess to players may not necessarily a short in finances. I can say we are short people in football terms so I will be short but not so sweet.

Short sighted; we never make long term plans on football. We will always come up with short term crisis mode of operation. This is evident in clubs and the national team, where coaches are hired and fired within three months. Insist on a long term plan and do not allow your boss to take a short cut. This makes our success a long shot and when we hit it, it is short-lived.

Short changed; Kenyans have gotten accustomed to being short changed every day. We appoint and elect leaders based on skewed criteria. This then denies us the opportunity to hold them accountable. You deserve the job as the most qualified (in terms of papers) local coach. Kindly do not short change us.

 Short on talent? We are never short on talent but out short sightedness makes good talent to be in short supply. We are also a people very short in memory so we hardly retain facts about talent and matters of football. We forget good players next door then send air tickets to players who we don’t even play.

Short circuits; in our short cuts we short circuit our endeavors. When we overlap in traffic jams, we create gridlocks. When we attempt to assemble a team in one week, we drop in rankings as KFF officials’ shorts’ pockets get lined. We frustrate promising players out of the game into the short and sweet life of delinquency. We bring down people to go lift ourselves then we fail to go up.

I will cut my long story short and say coach, as individuals and as a society we fall short in many ways. As a football playing nation, we lack a consistent natural right fullback, now that Osborne Monday is not fit enough. You have called Mulinge Ndeto, and the soldier is good though I will say his best days have passed. Have you watched Edwin Baraza play for Ingwe? oh oh- he is also short.

There is a diminutive player in Kenya, just like Maradona, Messi, Mascherano and Genarro Gatuso. Currently plying his trade in the Tanzania Premier League (TPL) and skipper for Azam FC. I know his shortcoming is that he is short but you are not short of smarts. May you employ a short memory and forget all that happened before- if there is any and call Ibrahim Shikanda to the national team.

I will stop short of going into details of his exploits in Tanzania, and let you do the necessary. I know you know your job better than me, but sometimes the curious onlooker has a story to tell. We can turn our shortcomings in our greatest pillars, because we love the beautiful game.

We need a Kenyan football culture

 “Which is the most popular sport in Brazil?”

The answer is volleyball; soccer is a 'religion' in Brazil. You will be forgiven if you thought that soccer was invented in Brazil- the Irish gave us potatoes and the French fried it the same way the British invented football and Brazilians made it beautiful. Brazil stands still for approximately one hundred and five minutes every time the ‘samba boys’ step into the pitch. The game is played extensively and intensively in the emerging major economy of South America.

It is an honour to wear the green and gold ‘El Selecao’ jersey, the selection- as their national team is known in Brazil or ‘samba boys’ to the world. They play with fun, such that Robinho offered to help ‘stiff’ members of the Brazil squad during the 2010 World Cup with dancing lessons. Where coaching Gor is the hardest job in Kenya, to be the coach of Brazil is both hard and easy. The easiest job because of the quality of players available and the hardest because of high expectations.

Let us take a trip down memory lane. The Indians roamed Brazil before the Portuguese colonized them and brought in Africans to work in their farms. Africans brought their food, music, dance, and martial arts to their new found home. Between 1885-1933 soccer was a game for the British elite, when the native Brazilians picked it they took it to the beaches, streets and every space they could find. The British have never known what happened to their game. The great thing that happened either by default or design was to fit football into their culture.

The Brazilian soccer style is a reflection of the culture of its people who dance samba creatively in a swing in various rhythms and choreographies. Soccer then is transformed into an art and its players into soccer artists. The same creativity goes into their popular culture of samba dance, Capoeira- Brazilian martial arts, and football. The martial arts element brings the discipline associated with most of Brazilian players. Football helped the poor people develop great capacity to overcome barriers with imagination that has influenced the world to date.

What about Kenya

Kenya’s qualification campaign for African Cup of Nations and 2014 World Cup in Brazil has began. We have already beaten Togo 2-1 at home for a place in South Africa next year. We then embark on the road to Brazil 2014, where we are in the same group with Nigeria. Hope is the last thing to die, but little has changed from our failed campaign for Gabon/E. Guinea 2012.

To people who know football, watching Harambee stars play can be disappointing. The same cancer that ails England in the international stage is with us. We lack a team culture, a way of play that can frustrate and tear down opponents. Reinhardt Fabisch tried to craft a culture in the mid nineties but our football gatekeepers in their character fired him.

Looking at Total Football, with roots in Hungary in the 1950’s; Jack Reynolds who managed Ajax Amsterdam till 1947 took note of the system. Rinus Michels,who played under Reynolds and later coached Ajax refined it and the Dutch national team also adopted it. Barcelona tweaked it into ‘tiki taka’ football and Spanish national team followed suit. Total Football involves players moving into spaces, while ‘tiki taka’ involves ball movement. This transformation may have been influenced by the South Americans at Barcelona.

The blend of cultural diversity can bring out the Kenyan taste of hard tackles, jump like Maasai morans for aerial balls, run steeplechase then dance taarabu towards the end of a match. Unless we develop our own style of play we will keep playing catch up. The dependence on individual talent is myopic and catastrophic. Now that Denis Oliech and Mariga have a bone to pick with FKF, we need a change of strategy.

We have a mosaic of rich culture which if we apply in sports will be more beneficial to us. If we can stop trying to play like the British who invented soccer and formulate our own original tactical style and rhythm then we can start saving for the2014 world cup in Brazil.

The Cost
Culture comes at a cost, weather you have to burry your next of kin in your ancestral land or to visit your in-laws twice. The same applies to corporate culture and to football; you have to pay by investing in football at every level, from primary schools all the way to our Premier League. We must set up vibrant leagues and build at least one world class playing surface in each county. Then look for ways of attracting the children to the pitches and offer them more than football.

Countries that perform well in team sports in the world have a structure, code of ethics and a way of life around the sport. Americans will put a basketball rim on any wall and space, Indians will play cricket on any space. We have to take our football seriously and inculcate it into our day to day life. We have to move away from the two cultures we are known for- impunity and corruption which have hurt our football as well.

Former KFF chairman Job Omino said that coaches come and go. We will fire Ghost Mulei, hire and fire Francis Kimanzi, make Hey (Antonie) when the sun is not shining, then hire Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno over and over again after firing Francis Kimanzi. If we have a culture, it will not matter who takes charge, they will have a guiding template. We shall never make an impact with a wing and prayer mentality.

Building Rome
Everyone thought the exit of Frank Rijkard will spell doom for FC Barcelona especially when the untested Pep Guardiola replaced him. Rijkard was successful but he is not missed at the Nou Camp. Barcelona has perfected a culture that has influenced the Spanish national team under Luis Aragonés and currently Vicente del Bosque. Jack Reynolds must be smiling in his grave.

Jack Reynolds planted the seed at Ajax, Rinus Michels, who played under Reynolds and later coached Ajax refined it into “Total Football" (Totaalvoetbal in Dutch) then used it as the Dutch national team coach in the 70’s. Michells left for Barcelona and took Ajax forward Johan Cruyff with him leaving Stefan Kovacs to re-refine the style at Ajax. Johan Cruyff was the system's most important product; he went back to coach Ajax. He moved to Barcelona in 1988 to 1995 where he coached Rijkard and Guardiola.

It was not about individual coaches (Michels, Kovacs or Cruyff), the system developed organically and collaboratively. According to former Ajax defender Barry Hulshoff, it was about making and coming into space, then organizing spatial designs on the pitch. Cruyff’s philosophy of Total Football- is simple football, which he says is the most beautiful but the hardest to play. He set up a self belief culture at Camp Nou that is still at the club to date. "Our mentality from the start was to focus on being the best because that's how you win. It's a way of thinking: look at yourself first and not at the others," he explained.

We will not do it in one day but we have to look for our own Jack Reynolds who will flag off a revolution. The ripple effect may just make us the football power house in Africa and the world. The incubation point for such a revolution is our clubs; we have to start from where our players spend most of their time, not the national team.

Zambia did not win the AFCON 2012 by fluke, that team was built in 2006, it has just been maturing with age.

Brazil, Netherlands and Spain are not football powerhouses by fluke. We should have done it yesterday, but the future is ours to make.