Dear Beloved Harambee Stars,
Today, unlike in the past, building a solid and indomitable national team seems to be an uphill task. Modern day soccer to the realization of pundits and fans across the world has grown to be a bit more technical and success in the international arena is very different from success in club football. Unfortunately, building a national team seems to be more than creating a mosaic of ‘big names’ in the team or having a coach with great credentials. It has surely proven to be more than cleaning the house and having the administrative structures in place. If the modern trends in football are anything to go by, Harambee stars may have to pay attention to these five points in order to build a team for posterity.
Firstly, what is our football culture? What is the philosophy behind or brand in football? Wait, do we even have a brand in football? If we bothered to take a glance at history, we may learn that every successful team has adopted a philosophy or unique style of play. It is from the philosophy that players will get character and perhaps the winning mentality. A football culture will also be helpful when we have to make transition to a younger team when the current players are done.
Secondly, we need to stop talking of developing new talents and actually work towards developing them. The FKF may have got new life under President Nick Mwendwa, but there is need to try and push for more talent academies and more tournaments for the youth national team. In that way, we will always have new talent for the national team and a promise of continuity in our football.
Thirdly, we should always try to find the right blend of the local based players and the international players. We will also do well if we can find the right blend of the young talent and experience. The biggest challenge for national teams in football today-especially for players abroad-is player adjustment. They usually have a short time to train together because of club obligation. If we invest in local based players, it will be easier to jell and build a formidable team.
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Fourthly, we need to be consistent but patient. Success in international tournament may not come as fast as we may want it to. The Elephants of Cote d’ ivore took a while and several attempts for them to get to the pinnacle of African football. The same can be said of the Super Eagles of Nigeria. If we keep to our impatient, changing the management and coaches of the national team, we may never get to Canaan.
Lastly, we need to think of keeping and improving our football administration from where it is right now. We need to improve our league and stop frustrating players. Reports of player intimidation and harassment coming out of Muhoroni are not very good for us. It is a good start for Okumbi’s team, talking about the Zambia game. So the deal is to improve on it.
