Oliech, Mariga recalled for Zambia match
Coach Bobby Williamson reveals to Goal that striker Dennis Oliech and Macdonald Mariga will be part of the squad to face Chipolopolo next month
Former Harambee Stars captain Dennis Oliech and midfielder Macdonald Mariga have been recalled to the team ahead of next month’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Zambia, Goal can exclusively reveal.
The two remain club less at the moment and the decision to recall them is meant to add experience to the squad. Harambee Stars coach Bobby Williamson, who is currently out of the country confirmed he wants the two for the Zambia game.
“It is true that we have recalled them. They are among the foreign-based players we want to have for the Zambia game. It is a big match and we need everyone, who can help us navigate through it.”
Stars will go to camp next week to begin preparations for the fixture. Oliech is yet to get a club after leaving French Ligue one side AC Ajaccio and spending six months in Dubai while Mariga is still looking for a club since his former team Parma FC was relegated last season.
The two missed out when Kenya held Congo Brazzaville to a 1-1 draw in their first match of the qualification with coach Williamson preferring Gor Mahia striker Michael Olunga and Jesse Were of Tusker in place of Oliech.
Saleh hopes for quick Logarusic return
AFC Leopards captain Jackson Saleh hopes that an agreement can be reached between the club and head coach Zdravko Logarusic to secure his return to the first team squad.
Logarusic has been away from the squad in the last two weeks, after staying away following lack of payment of arrears he is owed by the club.
He has thus missed training sessions as well as Kenyan Premier League clashes versus SoNy Sugar and Bandari, all which they failed to win.
Saleh believes that the club is worse off without Logarusic’s stewardship and hopes that an agreement can be reached in the very near future to secure his return.
“We need the coach to return. We need him back here to help us move ahead,” he said.
“It has not been easy for us without the coach and as you saw, our results have not been good as a result. It is important that he is there with us because we need to have stability and he provides that for us.”
“This is a very crucial part of the season and if we are at full strength, we will benefit hugely,” he added.
Leopards are currently fifth on the Kenyan Premier League log with 35 points from 21 matches played, 11 less than leaders Gor Mahia who have played three games less.
“We have had too many issues off the pitch to be able to compete with them, which is sad because I believe that we have as good a squad as they do,” Saleh said of Gor.
Muhiddin supports fielding foreign players in league
Experienced football coach Twahir Muhiddin has supported the signing of foreign players by clubs in the Kenyan Premier League saying they added value to the competition.
“No club signs a foreign player for the sake of it. The clubs have an interest in excelling and winning the league title and they will sign players they feel will help them achieve their goals. And they have sponsors whose interest must be catered for. That means performing,” Muhiddin, who currently coaches Bandari, said.
“I can mention a dozen of the foreign players who are doing well in our league and are helping their respective clubs. Gor Mahia is an example. Almost half their team is made up of foreign players who are doing very well at the moment,” Muhiddin, who guided Oserian Fastac to a Premiership runner-up position in 2000 before winning the title with the then Naivasha-based club in 2001, said.
A recent announcement by Football Kenya Federation to limit the number of foreign players plying their trade in Kenya has ignited debate with opinion divided on the matter. FKF said the number of foreign players allowed per club will be reduced from five to three next season, ostensibly to give local talent a chance to grow and flourish in the country.
Fifa in 2008 endorsed plans for a minimum of six "home-grown" players in clubs' starting line-ups in the so-called "6+5" rule. The rule was mainly aimed to make clubs more representative of their respective home nations by having more local players. Europeans clubs were generally not supportive of the proposal.
The European Commission later said such a rule would contravene EU labour laws. Fifa later abandoned the plans that were to come into effect by 2012.
Muhiddin, who has had stints as Kenya’s Harambee Stars coach in 2004-2005 and 2009-2010 and as assistant coach in 2009, said Kenyan football clubs and authorities needed to go back to the basics and start nurturing talent from a young age.
“We have to go back to having youth structures so that we can build our own home grown talent that can compete and surpass any foreign talent that comes to the country. We have to create our own talent and that does not come by preventing foreign players from playing in our leagues,” the much-travelled Muhiddin said.
The KPL has increasingly attracted players from the east African region, central Africa and even as far as west Africa.
Foreign players currently registered with the KPL stand at about 50. KPL will review the policy on foreign players in the league for next season.
KPL round 21: What they said
KCB’s Mungai Kiongera was at it again, scoring a hat trick to register five goals in his last two outings as the bankers beat Thika while Mathare United ended Tusker’s free-scoring run with a Noah Abich specialty and AFC Leopards came from behind to hold Bandari. Plenty of action and plenty to talk about.
Noah Abich (Mathare United defender): “I am happy with the goal because it delivered the results we had planned to achieve (beat Tusker 1-0). Scoring from free kicks requires constant practice on technique and also watching how other players do it."
Stanley Okumbi (Mathare United coach): "It was a tough match, but our game plan won us the match (beat Tusker 1-0). They have a deadly attack led by (Jesse) Were, (Noah) Wafula and (Danson) Kago , but our plan of locking them out and cutting off ball distribution from (Humphrey) Mieno worked out. We managed to contain Were and stop all their wingers from crossing the balls.”
Jesse Were (Tusker forward): “It was a tough and tactical match which was closely fought. (lost 1-0 to Mathare United). In the end, the most tactical side won the match though we had some scoring chances which could have changed the score line. My target for the season still remains to score 20 goals, anything above that will be a bonus. As the team’s striker and captain, my goal now is to ensure we win every match. I’m not obsessed with the Golden Boot chase, I just want to help the team do well. It is what everyone at the club is fighting for.”
Tim Byrett (Thika United coach): “We committed a lot of individual mistakes (lost 3-2 to KCB, just individual mistakes which cost us. Look at the penalty we conceded for KCB’s first goal. There was really no pressure in the box. We had the right number of players in the box. But we just continued to make life difficult for ourselves.”
Elvis Ayany (KCB assistant coach): “We thank God for the win (beat Thika United 3-2). You see, they were leading in the game and they were almost snatching a draw in the end. We are happy with the three points but need to keep our concentration throughout the game. Zakariah (Onyango) (KCB goalkeeper) conceded in a similar way he conceded two goals in our previous match. When you concede such goals you boost the other team and they come up. This game was a pressure game for us. We wanted to really win it and we took a three-goal lead so giving them an easy goal brought pressure to my team.”
Twahir Muhiddin (Bandari coach): I can say we lost two points (drew 1-1 with AFC Leopards). The match was ours for the taking. It shows we have a striking problem in Kenya. With quality strikers we would have buried the game a long time. We had excellent chances but did not make use of them. It really shows this country has a problem with strikers. The only two who can match up in the country currently are (Michael) Olunga and Jesse (were). ."We need to start grooming players from an early age so that by the time they are 16 they do not need to be taught anything more about football. That is the only way.”
Log 1. Gor Mahia-46 Points 2.Ulinzi Stars-40 3.Sofapaka-36 4.Tusker-35 5.AFC Leopards-35 6.Mathare United-29 7.Bandari-30 8.WStima-29
9.Shabana-29
10.Osrian-25 11.NrbStima-21 12.Agrochem-21 13.Ligi Ndogo-20 14.MCRangers-18 15.Finlays-15 16.MOSCA-15 17.StJoseph-14 18.FCTalanta-14 Points
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