What Italian football can teach Kenya

Whenever Harambee Stars plays like they are currently doing in CECAFA Senior Challenge in Uganda, Kenyan football fans are treated to a rollercoaster ride. At one time we are struggling against Uganda, Southern Sudan gives us a scare but we manage to beat them on experience and such stories.

I believe Kenya needs an idiosyncratic (that is just another word for peculiar- but do I say) style of playing football, and we can learn from the Italians. The Azzuri, Italian national team is known to play a style of football called ‘Catenaccio’ (door-bolt.) This style is not popular with the rest of the world but it has worked for Italy. They won the 2006 World Cup in Germany and again lost the Euro 2012 final match to a Spanish side playing smooth playing football.

This defensive style of play may not be as pleasing to the eye as Spanish – tiki taka but it has worked for Italy. Even their creative midfielders like Cassano and Pirlo are not known to play the Iniesta- Xavi like style of midfield play. Italians lock it down even as they go forward.

Tribalism and his sister corruption are strains of a defensive mindset

Kenyans to my observation are a defensive people and it is evident in our football. Tribalism and his sister corruption are strains of a defensive mindset. When we feel ‘safe’ with one of our own in power to check the other tribes out to ‘finish’ us is as defensive as any Italian football club.

Leadership gurus a while back trained us to work on our weaknesses to succeed. Today the buzz word is lead from your strengths. If Kenya is to make an impact in African football we need to play from our point of strength- go defensive.

Looking at Tusker FC in the just ended Tusker Premier League one gets to understand what I mean. Tusker clinched the league with 39 goals, six less than AFC Leopards’ at position three. Gor Mahia scored 37 at position two, Thika United 36 at position five, and Mathare United 36 at position 8.

This is a low average of 1.3 goals per match for Tusker. They played a defensive minded football and at the end Coach Robert Matano who was in charge for the last six matches was happy not to have conceded a goal in his first two matches.

Since the league was revamped in 2009, the league has been won by a club that did not score the most goals. Since then it is only AFC and Sofapaka who have scored over forty goals in a season.  Looking at our players as well, especially in the midfield- we have always lacked attack minded play makers. The top scorer John Baraza is in the twilight of his career and Dan Serunkuma who gave him a run for his money is Ugandan.

We have never lacked good defenders and defensive minded midfielders. Siblings Victor Mugubi and McDonald Mariga are our latest big exports and they are both defensive midfielders. The few attacking midfielders in TPL are Gor’s Rama Salim and Kevin Omondi, Sofapaka’s Humphrey Mieno and Mungai Kiongera of KCB. Even with such players, our mode of play hardly utilizes their strengths, with Zdvarko Logarusic at Gor being an exception this season.

Yes, Italians are known to bolt the door and frustrate the opponent. With our burly defenders and not so speedy attackers, this is an approach we can adopt in the national team. Let’s not try what we don’t have the capacity to maintain or hunt what we cannot kill. If we defend well, then wait for our strikers to score that one goal that makes the difference. In Italy, the 1-0 score line is as common as pizza in Rome and Milan.

We can play from our strength as we strive to build the other departments we fall short in. Simple football, like Brazilian coach Luis Fellipe Scholari said, is the hardest football to play.

Catch me on twitter @stuttistician and Facebook; www.facebook.com/SokaBuzzz

  

If Only AFC and Gor fans got the BIG picture

This blogpost, I will confess has been difficult to write. I had to turn it over in my head and even sent it down to my heart a few times. In the end, like I have done many times before, I sat up to write it. I know some  Gor Mahia fans who know me and have read the title have already scrolled to other things, some who have clicked on it are browsing to see a statement they can throw back at me. That is unavoidable in this game, I will take all in stride.

I am not a Gor Mahia fan, but my club loyalty has never shrouded my judgment of Kenyan football entities. One thing I try not to do is to write about my preferred club, when I have to write I make sure I am as objective as possible. So, I always take the bricks thrown at me by fans with a pinch of salt.

I will go tribal (most Kenyans are) and please do not take this as my excuse for tribalism but my explanation of the same. I am a believer in the spirit of Kenya and a firm believer in the Kenyan dream. I believe a section of Gor fans who cause trouble after matches should look seriously into their actions, the sooner the better. As I did after the ill fated match Gor Mahia fans display Luos siege mentality after AFC Leopards' match , the recent Gor vs. Thika United match has awaken the writer in me.



I mentioned about the Luo community’s siege mentality that is born of past historical injustices. Again, everyone must take responsibility for his actions; I was just explaining why hooliganism is more than a football problem. Like Martin Luther King Jr. said, nobody can ride your back unless it is bent.

Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards’ fans are known for causing chaos whenever a match does not go their way. AFC Leopards’ may claim that Gor fans are worse but their recent actions in Nakuru point to a kettle calling the pot dark. The big question is who loses when fans take out their disappointments on innocent members of the public?

First things first, It is unfortunate that I have to profile the ethnic (or regional) identities of TPL players, but if it is good for the local game- why not? I failed to get the 2012 full clubs team lists, so I took my time to look at match team sheets which has eighteen players. Most if not all clubs constitute over 50% of players from Western Kenya (old Nyanza and Western provinces.) Do not report me to Mzalendo Kibunja just yet.

The good book in Mathews chapter 25 gives us the famous Parable of Talents. God, like the master who went on a journey gives talents according to the ability of the recipient. The third servant told his master he was a hard man who reaped where he did not sow as a reason for not doing much with his gift. The little he had was taken away and given to the first two who had brought returns of their investments. To who much is given, much is also expected and so the Luo and Luhya communities should take the gift of football very seriously.

When Tusker FC played Chemelil Sugar on 11^th May 2012, all but three of their eighteen member team were from Western Kenya, Chemelil had eleven players from the same region. When Tusker recently beat City Stars 3-0 to win the TPL title, four players (including Obadiah Ndege) were not from the said region, City Stars had a similar number. What am I driving at?

I have not looked at AFC Leopards’ and Gor Mahia; of the two Gor will get a thumps up for recruiting players from all over Kenya while AFC tends to give consideration to players from Luhya community first. There is nothing wrong with either as long as football is played professionally. But when fans cause chaos, it is players who will suffer most, yet majority of them hail from the communities that support the two most popular clubs.

It is obvious that the two clubs cannot absorb all the talent from the bedrock of their fan base. So when Rangers FC winds up, it is not a Yobesh Ongeri problem but a Kenyan football problem. Several players will miss an avenue to express and develop their talent, and most of them will hail from the two communities. It is not just about Gor and AFC Leopards'.

In short, Gor fans, a majority of who are Luos should know that when they cause chaos they are hurting the local game, and by extension their brothers who play pay for it. The same with AFC Leopards’, fans of both clubs should endevour to make the local game appealing so as to attract the ‘neutrals’ who prefer to follow foreign leagues. The goal is to deny them the excuse that the local game is at the mercy of hooligans.

I write this with the knowledge that both clubs are capable of filling any stadium in Kenya to capacity if they mean business. Their matches are well attended, and they have a right to brag about it. What they may not know is that this is still a fraction of their fans; why are many of their fans afraid to come to the stadium?

In my earlier blog (I have attached the link above) I tried to explain why Gor fans tend to behave the way they behave. It is upon them to rise above prevailing circumstances and make the best of the situation. God gives talent, but it is the responsibility of the recipient to get the best out of this gift.
The local game has come from far but we still have a long way to go. I write this to ask fans, and especially Gor and AFC Leopards’ fans that for selfish reasons let them restrain themselves whenever they are disappointed in any way.

When Tusker wins, and Thika United also plays well, if you look well- it is good for the two communities who form the bulk of local football lovers. It is wise and prudent to lose battles gracefully if it will give you the impetus to win the war. I hope they get the bigger picture; it is the only way to avoid sweating the small stuff. This will also prevent other people from taking advantage of their weaknesses  for selfish reasons.

Lastly, a toast to Bob Munro and Thika United founders. The two clubs have been instrumental in raising players from other communities apart from Western and Coast regions where for a long time most of Kenyan football players hailed from. Long Live TPL, FKF and the local beautiful game.
You can now send this to National Cohesion and Integration Commission. We can build the whole (country) by building the parts.