SportPesa Allstars did well, but not the coach

February 27 marked a historic night for Kenya’s football as our boys played against an English Premier League club, Hull City, in a friendly match televised across Africa.

It is only proper to doff our hats for sports betting company, SportPesa for making this possible.

It is not any every day that you will have events of such magnitude — which is why the country owes it to the betting firm.

However, as we celebrate that milestone, the memory of the game and the missed chance in using it as the springboard to a better future will linger with us for a lifetime. The match ended in a 1–2 loss for the Kenyan side, but what generated a lot of harsh reactions from fans, and rightly so, was the fielding.

With all the talk of building the capacity of our youth — not just for the 2022 World Cup but starting with the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan - coach Stanley Okumbi, the man entrusted with leading the team in the game, badly betrayed the spirit by fielding mostly players who will definitely no longer be part of the national team in the coming three years or so.

The anger from the fans is particularly drawn from the fact that Okumbi was presented with the chance to test one of Kenya’s raw upcoming talents, Joshua Otieno, the 16–year-old Kakamega High School student, but the coach, who doubles up as the Kenya national team head coach, waited until the final minute — and with SportPesa All Stars trailing — before introducing the lad and as a result, the boy didn’t even get a chance to touch the ball; a wasted opportunity for the coach, the player and a nation heavy with hope.

Of the 11 players out there on that cold night, only five could be termed prospects for the future - the central defence pairing of Harun Shakava and Robinson Kamura, Cliff Kasuti and Amos Nondi in midfield and John Makwata upfront. The rest have their better days behind them.

The situation is further soured by the fact that the coach did not use 20–year old Harun Nyakha in the match while, just like Joshua Otieno, another upcoming star in Thika United defender Christopher Oruchum was introduced late as Samuel Ndung’u spent the entire time on the bench, denying them a chance to gauge themselves against their age mates.

SportPesa did justice to Kenyan players by confining the selection to just Kenyan players, in a league awash with good players from around the region, mostly Uganda, but the team of Kenyan players did not make full use of the favour at a time when debates are waging over the impact of Ugandan players in the Kenyan top league, this, despite the fact that Hull City fielded a development side.

The Hull City team sent out on that night was mainly made up of teenagers and players in their early 20s, save for Dean Windass, the 47-year-old club legend the side had the comfort of sending on late in the game and this says a lot about the quality of our players. An argument for the Kenyan side could be that the players do not enjoy the same facilities as the youthful Hull City side, but the fact remains; we wasted a big chance in the game.