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.

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