Super 8 Finals

Via email:

"Extreme Sports Ltd has the pleasure of inviting you to the finals of the sixth Edition Super 8 Soccer Tournament that will be held at the Nyayo Stadium on the 23rd of June 2007. The main event will be an exhilarating match between Buruburu Sacramento from Makadara constituency and Huruma Cranes from Starehe constituency. The winner of the tournament will be walking away with 250,000 Ksh while the runner up goes home with 100,000.

The Super Eight Soccer Tournaments registration average is a record 84 football clubs per tournament, making it the biggest and richest soccer tournament held in the country. Approximately 300,000 funs watched the preliminary games that were played in all constituencies within the Nairobi province.

We have successfully used this event to educate our youth on the dangers of Drug Abuse and created awareness on HIV/AIDS. Hundreds of jobs have also been created as a result of this venture.Herewith find a write up on the event.

Program line-up

1:00 P.M - Guests Arrive
1:30 P.M - Entertainment
2:00 P.M - Live Performance by Local Artists
3:00 P.M - Main Event Buru Buru Sacramento VS Huruma CranesFC

Your presence will be highly appreciated."

Be There!

It Lives

following my survey to determine tha fate of this blog, almost all of you (92%) indicated that you wished to see this blog live on. Indeed, some of you sent very motivating messages and even offered to help. I thank you very much for this. This post is just a little note to tell you all that this blog will live on. I think I had lost my way a bit - but now I'm back on track. ;-)

Should KenyanSoccer.Blogspot.com Die??

As you may have noticed, I have not updated this blog for a while and generally I am not as enthusiastic as I used to be. This is due to several reasons:

• My original partners in this blog have all left
• I am very busy with school and other things and now that I run this blog alone, the workload is sometimes too much
• I am about to leave the country and will not be able to maintain it
• Kenyan Football is full of politics and is generally very disheartening and disappointing

I was considering deleting this blog but I still have 'feelings' for it and would hate to see it go. It's got a link from wikipedia, for Pete's sake. Therefore, I thought I'd ask you, my readers, for some advice. Please vote on the poll below:



If anyone is interested in helping me out with the running of this blog please contact me!

Road to the 2010 World Cup Final - With Love From New York

It' been a while since I last met a true lover of the game. People say the like football but most do just that - they just say it. What would you give up for the love of the game? Not much, huh?

Meet Cesar, a real football-lover. By the way, he is from New York, USA. As he puts it, the US is a football wasteland. Yet, the beautiful game has managed to penetrate into the hearts of people there. Cesar's heart belongs to football. Let me give it to you in his own words:

"I fell into my love for football by accident. Like a lover who takes time to warm to you, I skipped by the game often in my life without paying attention. Then one day, it hit me between the eyes and my heart was forever taken. I'm now full-blown in love, married to the bounces of a leather ball.

Now, I want to devote a significant portion of my time to the game. I want to watch matches. I want to start a supporter's group for my club (Valencia CF). I want to volunteer in Africa and help children through the game.

And I want to go to the World Cup Final in South Africa in 2010." (Read more.)

I don't know about you, but I love Cesar already. Cesar runs a blog which is about, in his own words, "My journey from Brooklyn, New York January 4, 2007 to the World Cup Final match July 11, 2010 in South Africa. How will I get there? I have no idea. Join me as I travel around Africa, write a book, make some friends and watch the beautiful game!"

I would love to see Cesar make it to the 2010 finals. Want to keep up-to-date on his journey? Check out his blog: http://roadto2010final.blogspot.com

Who Else Can Remember the Great Johan Cruiijf?

This a call for help by a recent commenter on this blog:

My name is Ruud Elmendorp and I am a Dutch video journalist. Currently I am in Nairobi and looking for somebody who knows Johan Cruijff from the days he was still playing. It's needed for a show in The Netherlands to be broadcasted on Cruijff's 60th birth day, the 25th.

Let me know asap,

Kind regards,

Ruud Elmendorp
http://www.videoreporter.nl

If you can, help the guy out. Contact me or leave a comment if you want his email address and/or telephone number.

Weekend Fixtures

Did you Know? Football, a.k.a., soccer is an aphrodisiac? Research shows that the average soccer fan is 'n the mood' more often than the average non-fan. This is wonderful, don't you think? It's also unconfirmed. Anyway, why don't you confirm it for yourself b going out to a soccer stadium near you this weekend?

For some reason, the Super 8 soccer tournament's fixtures for the weekend have changed. Here are the revised fixtures.

April 7 2007:

Kasarani Constituency (12pm):
Baba Dogo Vs Lucky Summer
Westlands Constituency (3pm):
Kangemi Youth Vs WYSA

April 8 2007:

Kamukunji Constituency (12pm):
CASL Dads Vs Shauri Moyo
Starehe Constituency (3pm):
Forest Rangers Vs Huruma Cranes

I would have liked to give you the fixtures to the local premier league but those were unavailable. Maybe someone should do something about that. All in all, make sure you go watch a match.

A Royal Thrashing

This weekend saw the start of the Super 8 Soccer tournament constituency finals and proved to be yet another weekend of awesome Super 8 action. Al Swafaa from Lang'ata were given a sound beating of 7-2 by the Iron Strikers.

Langata Constituency:
Iron Strikers 7 – Scorers: Wilson Lola 10th min, Erick Lukale 60th, 65th and 77th, John Onami 69th min, Andrew Maona 75th min and Paul Kungu 85th min
Al Swafaa 2 – Scorers: Nicholas Otieno 24th and 34th min


Embakasi Constituency
Dandonar Adjentos 3 – Scorers: David Sewe 25th and 48th min, Steve Odhiambo 80th min
Milo FC 1 – Scorers: Dennis Mwanza 6th min

Dagoretti Constituency
Kakamega United (3) 7 - Scorers: Patrick Kwikereza 7th and 78th min, Bonface Luchitio 81th min
Waithaka Babes (3) 6 – Scorers: James Muchiri 19th and 37th min, Kiarie Ndungu 90th min
Kakemega United won 7-6 on penalties after a three all draw at normal time

Makadara Constituency
Buru Buru Scacramento 2 - Scorers: Gabriel Omondi 57th min, Anthony Ondieki 75th min
Mbotela Kamaliza 1 - Scorer: Tom Chalo 65th min

Were You There?

Entering the compound, one could hear people screaming, probably shrieking. People were huddled in little groups of about seven talking in nervous, animated voices. Everyone was nervous. That's probably why some were screaming/shrieking. A bit further into the compound, it was clearly visible. I had never seen anything like that at that place.

The place? Nyayo National Stadium. The time? Thirty minutes to kick-off. The occasion? The slaying of the Swazi by our very own Harambee Stars. Now, back to our story.

I had never seen people queuing at this stadium, let alone the long wavy queues that now snaked their way all over the compound. Everyone had a nervous smile and all conversation ultimately led to the exclamation: "We must win today!" But the general mood was gay, people were friendly and everyone was eager for the start of the match. So I bought my ticket and headed on into the stadium, passing through the tightest security check in Kenyan Soccer History (they wouldn't even let you go in with a bottle of water!)

The inside of the stadium was simply marvelous. By the time I had got in, close to every seat was already taken. The stars were on the pitch warming up, and a Mexican wave was making rounds amongst the seated fans. Some of the fans ( those from the VIP area) were getting some stick from the other fans for killing the wave once it got to them. They promptly got in on the act and the wave made complete rounds in the stadium. The response from the fans was heavenly : the whole place seemed to erupt in joy. I bet the Swazis already knew they were in for a bit of a thrashing!

Hardly had the game started when the guy over the loudspeaker announced that every single ticket was sold and the stadium was filled to capacity. I don't think that has happened in my lifetime. The fans were super, we sat through a good quarter of an hour's drizzle without even twitching a muscle at the thought of the rain (hehe) and cheered on our team, who weren't playing very well till then. Some fans were moving round the stadium motivating the rest of us and getting sections of the stadium loud and boisterous. Every attack by the stars was cheered on loudly. I was seated behind the goal which Kenya was defending and, hearing nearby fans shouting instructions to Origi (our keeper), I joined in. "Keeper, wacha kuenda sana. Rudi!" The uneventful first half came to an end.

If you haven't been to a packed stadium, with the Harambee Stars playing, and scoring the opening goal then you've seen nothing yet! Forget all about Alfred Mutua's car stickers - this is what patriotism is all about: erupting into wild jubilation with 30,000 fellow country men, and hugging everyone in sight. Mariga, for scoring the goal, must have been the most popular Kenyan at that moment. Everyone around me was singing his praises. Our nerves definitely calmed down a bit after that goal. They calmed down even more when the Swazi response was seen, was measured, and was found wanting. Now sections of the fans were shouting, "Oboya! Oboya!" They wanted him brought on. The pressure paid off and Mulee brought in the youngster. Almost immediately, he scored. This time, the fans did cheer, but not as much as they did earlier. It is interesting to note that Deno(Oliech) was playing real quality football and was deeply involved in every good Kenyan move and both goals. France definitely made him better. By now, we all knew the match was now all but over - the Swazi could not come back. They didn't.

Super 8 Soccer Constituency Finals

This weekend brings with it the start of the Super 8 Soccer tournament's constitutional Finals which will all be played at the Nyayo National Stadium. Our premier league being all but dead, the Super 8 remains as one of the hottest soccer events in the country pitting various areas of Nairobi against each other. Make sure you make it to these great matches!

March 31 2007:

Lang'ata Constituency (12pm):
Iron Strikers Vs Al Swafaa
Embakasi Constituency (3pm):
Milo FC Vs Dandora Adjentos

April 1 2007:

Starehe Constituency (12pm):
Forest Rangers Vs Huruma Cranes
Makadara Constituency (3pm):
Mbotela Kamaliza Vs Buru Buru Sacrament

April 7 2007:

Kasarani Constituency (12pm):
Baba Dogo Vs Lucky Summer
Westlands Constituency (3pm):
Kangemi Youth Vs WYSA

April 8 2007:

Kamukunji Constituency (12pm):
CASL Dads Vs Shauri Moyo
Dagoreti Constituency (3pm):
Kakamega United Vs Waithaka Babes

Harambee at Nyayo

Today the Harambee Stars beat Swaziland 2-0 in a pulsating encounter at the Nyayo National Stadium, which was packed to capacity. The first half of the game was rather dull but the game burst into life during the second half when the stars went out to attack the Swazis. It wasn't long before Mariga scored a superb goal followed by Oboya scoring his after Oliech did some superb work on the flank and supplied the cross. All in all, it was a good game for us. Considering the fact that we've been out of international soccer for a few months before this, we should take some pride and say: Kenya has a good team. Woohoo!

(I'll be blogging more on this later)

Tommorow is a Big Day

Kenya Vs Swaziland

Sunday, March 25, 2007

0700hrs Tickets sales begin. Gates to Nyayo stadium open
1400hrs The two teams leave their hotels with Police Escort for Nyayo National Stadium
1500hrs Teams at the Stadium for usual Inspection/ Checking Arrival of the Guest of Honour
1540hrs Teams march to the pitch and the National Anthems played
1550hrs Guest of Honour accompanied by KFF Chairman, Match Commissioner and Swaziland Team Leader greet the two teams
1600hrs Match kick-off
1645hrs Half time break
1700hrs Start of second half
1745hrs End of match
1830hrs Teams and Match officials leave the Stadium for their respective hotels.

We simply must win this one so as to have a realistic chance of making it to the Africa Cup of Nations next year. Be there, let's support our boys as they do us proud. (Technically, they are men but bear with me :-))

Barclays Sponsors Soccer

The secondary schools' soccer tournament received a major boost when Barclay's offered a sponsorship worth sh. 9 million. The 3 year contract will be used to purchase equipment and kit to be used in the schools' soccer competitions.

This is great. It is exactly what we need since talent has to be tapped and nurtured right from the start. Hopefully it will go a long way into helping develop young promising footballers. Let's also hope that the current confusion doesn't continue long enough to destroy what this program may build.

Weekend Action

It was an even more chaotic weekend as things are quite hectic now that FIFA ruled that the two leagues have to be unified into one 18-team league.

Tusker 2 Sony 1
Mathare Youth 0 Sony 1
Gor 0 KCB 0
Mumias 2 Mathare United 1

This Week

I've been a bit under the weather so, as you may have notice, the real world has kept me away from wonderful blogosphere. But now I'm back, I hope.

This week has been pretty eventful for our beautiful game. As you should know by now, FIFA let us back in last week. this week they sent a bunch of guys to ensure everything was alright. These guys were supposed to ensure we adhered to certain conditions. They did just that and made it clear that the local premier league will have only 18 teams this season. That's final. That means AFC go down to the lower division. The FIFA team may also be onto something that may cause another storm by demanding KFF account for the FIFA monies they've been spending. That's cool with me - no when should get rich when all we get are hoarse voices from our wild cheering at local games (right?) ;-)

Good old Mulee is back as head coach, with Twahir Muhidin as his assistance. They have a tough job preparing the stars for Swaziland, who have been preparing furiously for the encounter with us. They held South Africa to a draw. The match will be this coming Sunday at the Nyayo National Stadium. BE THERE. It was moved to Nyayo from Kasarani specifically so that us fans have an easier time commuting.

The week also so intense discussions amongst the warring factions in our football in attempts to comply to what FIFA wants. Let's hope these bear fruit.

A New Day Has

We were waiting for so long
For a miracle to come
We all knew we needed to be strong
Hold on and don't lose hope

Finally, FIFA lifted the ban on our football and thus Kenya re-enters the international football arena, meaning we can continue trying to qualify for the Africa cup of Nations - Swaziland awaits already us. Of course, all this is dependent on certain conditions.

(First paragraph courtesy of this site)

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Constituency Semi-Final Action!

The Super 8 Consttituency semi-finals were red-hot weekend with the pick of the matches being the elimination of former champions Dandora Youth by ten-man Milo FC in a very entertaining match at the Nyayo National Stadium. Here are the results:

Milo FC 3 Dandora Youth 3 (Milo won 3-2 on post-match penalties)
BuruBuru Sacrament 4 BuruBuru 58 FC 0
Mbotela Kamaliza 3 Bedjos FC 0
Forest Rangers 4 Ngara Youth Pelico 1
Huruma Cranes 0 Mathare Outreach 0 (huruma won 4-2 on penalties)
Iron Strikers 4 Kenyatta Youth 2
Al Swafaa 1 Kibera Zulu 1 (Al Swafaa won 5-4 on penalties)

The local league is still chaotic with two parallel leagues in coexistence.

Tusker 3 Homegrown 2
Chemelil 2 KCB 0
World Hope 1 Mathare Youth 1
Mathare United 0 Thika United 0
Mahakama 3 Kangemi United 1

This Week in Kenyan Soccer

It turned out to be a very uneventful week despite having the makings of a monumental week because of the big FIFA decision that was due yesterday but never came. Still, we found out that Kamanda isn't such a nice guy and may even be just another politian suffering from ADD. He's not sent the letter he's supposed to according to the most recent roadmap out of oblivion for our game. I hate politicians. Get out of the football scene, please.

In other news, you'll never guess which is the most famous team in Kenya, as voted by you.

Finally, an apology. I have not been able to come up with a list of fixtures of the current season due to the chaos in the league. Therefore, the links to fixtures in the sidebar may not work as you expect them to. Sorry about that.

A Big DAy For Us

well, this is it. Today is FIFA's deadline for us to put our house in order. We clearly haven't (yet) but things are looking up after the meeting with CAF officials yielded some results. AND CAF put a Kenyan referee in charge of an Africa Cup of Nations match - this can only be good news. Let's hope today we get even better news: may they please lift the damn ban!

Which is Your Favorite Team

I love KCB because in the 2003 season I went to almost all their games - my cousin was playing for them then. That year they won a cup competition - I'm not sure which one! So, readers, which team do you guys like the most? Leave a comment saying why.

Get Free Opinion Polls

As you can see, I included Supastrikas. Here's why.

This Week in Kenya Football

The happenings of this week, though few, are very significant. There is hope yet for our football as the CAF meetings convened by Kamanda bore fruit. The meeting convened at the request of CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye to CAF President Issa Hayatou confirmed, four resolutions to be implemented immediately, enabling the country regain re-admittance back into international football. These are:

• That there be a full implementation of the 28-point Cairo agreement. It was noted that KFF/CAF/FIFA were party to the agreement and the revival of Kenyan Football has to be based along the path agreed upon in Cairo.
• That the Minister of Sports of the Government of Kenya, cease with immediate effect, further interferance of the running of football in the country. The minister had earlier made a committment to CAF president Issa Hayatou that he will no longer interfere with KFF and it's affiliate clubs.
• That KFF officials withdraw all court cases relating to football. Acting KFF Chairman Mohammed Hatimy and suspended Alfred Sambu had to make a committment to withdraw all pending court cases.
• That KFF call a National Congress to confirm the agreements with regards to number of premier league teams, ratifying the suspension of Alfred Sambu and other fine details according to FIFA stipulations.

Read more on this.

What about the media? Are they to blame?

In all honesty, Kenya Football is in a real mess. The KFF is inefficient, corrupt and lethargic; the government is insensitive, inconsiderate and interferes with football resulting in unsolicited and unwanted outcomes; and the fans don't show up for games. Could things get any worse? Yes. There's a fourth player in the let's-ruin-our-football game. What about the Fourth Estate?

In a perfect world, the media would actively participate in the resurrection of our soccer. They would bring back the passion for local football by highlighting the good aspects of our game all the time (or even at least as much as they highlight the foreign football leagues). They would make any football loving Kenyan want to go and watch local matches just by talking about our football in a positive way. They would cover every match, publish pictures, show us short clips of matches on TV, and generally make us feel envious at how much fun it was watching a certain game live. AND albeit the local premier league is dead, there's still good football out there – the ongoing Super 8 Soccer tournament being one of them – so the excuse that local football doesn't warrant the media's attention is just hogwash.

But this is not a perfect world. In actual fact, our media pays little or no attention to our local game. That's why a leading daily newspaper can publish plainly wrong facts and not even offer a simple apology. This week, the Nation had the audacity to claim that the Super 8 Soccer tournament was in the quarter final stage – clearly not true!. The fact that that story was published clearly shows that no research went into the story and the editor didn't even bother to check the facts. Scandalous! If that was not bad enough, I have seen with my own two eyes journalists (names withheld) asleep or busy with their newspapers, books and whatnot at a soccer game that they are supposedly being paid to cover. The straw that breaks the camel's back, however, is the shocking fact that journalists take bribes to take sides in the local football chaos. I blame the media for everything wrong with our football.

I believe that blogs like this one are also part of the media and so in blaming the media I blame myself also. We can do so much more to build our football!

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Super 8 Fixtures

Today
Dagoreti – Nduararua Grounds
Waithaka Babes Vs K-Rep Bank
Kakamega Youth Vs City Landers

Embakasi – Dandora Stadium
Dandora Maono Fc Vs Dandora Adjentos
Dandora All Stars Vs Umoja Renegades

Lang'ata – Woodley Stadium
Ligi Ndogo FC Vs Kibera Zulu
Al Swafaa Vs Undugu Youth

Kamukunji – Morrison Primary School
Shauri Moyo FC Vs Uprising
Country Bus Vs Salem

Tomorrow
Starehe – Huruma Grounds
University of Nairobi Vs Mathare Outreach
Huruma Youth Vs Huruma Cranes

Makadara – Hamza Grounds
Buru Buru Sacramento Vs Makongeni Youth
Buru Buru 58 FC Vs Hakati FC

Kasarani – Baba Dogo Grounds
CDC Korogocho Vs Kariobangi Sharks
Lucky Summer Vs Githurai United

Westlands – Kabete Technical
Rysa Vs ACK Kabete
Brook United Vs Wysa

Another look at Hon. Kamanda

All along, I have villified our sports minister in this blog because I believe he should no better than to meddle in local football when FIFA specifically warns agaisnt any government interefering in football. AND also because I just don't like politicans.

However, sometimes I feel that the minister is doing what any sensible government should do. I mean, the KFF officials have been tormenting our football for decades and its a good thing to try and stop this. Perhaps the minister is the champion we've been waiting for to save our football. In theory, he'd come in, rid us of the poisonous elements in KFF and then remove all government influence in football and voila! Our favorite game would prosper. Perhaps our good minister had this in mind. The sad fact is that his actions just drove us deeper into the mud that we're stuck in right now.

Recently, he held a meeting with the CAF president Issa Hayatou and invited CAF officials to come hold talks in kenya to try and resolve our issues. Rumour has it that the talks are already bearing fruit. This action makes me think that perhaps Kamanda does have our interests at heart. If that is the case, kudos to him. Thank you, honorable minister.

Weekend Results

Though it was yet another weekend of chaos in the premier league as both parallel leagues continued, fans were treated to exciting football through the Super 8 soccer tournament where favorites Leviticus were dumped out of the competition and Dandora Youth survived a scare.

Gachie Sportiff 4 Leviticus 1
Kangemi Youth 4 Pirates Youth 0
Baba Dogo United 1 Githurai Sportiff 0
Mbotela Kamaliza 3 Mbotela Angels 1
Ngara Youth Pelico 5 FC WhyNot 1
Dandora Youth 0 Komarock Rangers 0 (Dandora won 3-1 on penalties)
Milo FC 3 Dandora Youngstars 1
Kakamega United 1 Gachui Black Boots 0
Melta Kibiria 2 Talent 1
Kariobangi 2 Stima 0
Iron Strikers 2 Kuwinda 0

Premier League:
KCB 3 AFC 1
Mahakama 3 Agro Chemical 3
Mumias 3 Shabana 0
Homegrown 1 thika 0
Mathare youth 2 Coast 1
Ulinzi 1 gor 0
Mathare 1 Sher Agencies 1

Over to you, Mr. President

Over the weekend, KFF officials called on the president of the republic of Kenya to personally come in and rescue Kenya Football from the clutches of Hon. Kamanda who is leading us into football wilderness. They even went as far as suggestion that football be moved from the ministry of sports to the office of the president as part of 'special programmes'.

Let's hope all this leads us somewhere other than a long FIFA ban.

This Week in Kenya Football

Surprisingly, it was a quiet week in which the usual stand offs, threats and whatnot were conspicously absent. That's a good thing, don't you think. In fact it was a good week for our football. For one thing, kenya moved up FIFA rankings despite having lost our two last games and being out in the cold thanks to A FIFA ban. That's pretty amazing. I imagine that we'd have moved up even further in the rankings if we had not been banned.

To sum up our good week, yesterday Mohamed Hatimy wrote a letter to the minister of sports seeking a truce so as to save Kenya Football. I must say this is a very admirable and welcome move. Aren't things looking up? Hopefully the governement will respond in kind and work towards putting an end to all this mess, and register us for the 2010 world cup before it's too late.

Kenya moves up FIFA rankings

Despite being out in the cold thanks to a FIFA ban, the Kenya national team moved up in FIFA rankings from 129 to 127th in the world. However, we still lie behind Uganda(102) and Tanzania(109). Read full story here.

Did you know that KFF referees won't be hired by the Nyamira Secondary Schools' Sports Association to officiate this year's ball games? They'll train games' teachers instead. Why? Because previously, KFF referees instigated fights between competing teams by poor officiating.

Giants fall

The Super 8 soccer tournament is Kenya's very own knock-out football. Lose one game, and you're out, see you next year. This weekend saw the tournament enter its sixth edition and was a real giant killing occasion where favorites like Gladiators, Black Mamba and Veg Pro (just to mention a few) were knocked out by relative minnows. Folks, this is what soccer is all about. Most of the teams in this tournament are teams representing various regions of Nairobi and hence emotions run high as you head to the game to cheer on not just your neighborhood team but also your neighbors. Call it grass roots football but this is the real stuff; the stuff that fans love! I can't wait for some of the teams from my home, Starehe Constituency, to play!

Perhaps this is precisely the reason why the local premier league is lacking in fans (incidentally, Super 8 matches are full of fans). You go to a stadium to see strange teams play in an empty 20000 seater stadium. Doesn't Sony Sugar FC leave a bad taste in the mouth? I think we should have more regional teams in the top flight. Here are the weekend's results:

Kakamega United 2 Gladiators 1
Gachui Black roots 2 Impala 1
Komarock rangers 3 Soweto 1
Buru Buru Sacramento 1 Black Mamba 0
Mbotela Angels 4 Hamsa heroes 3
Baba Dogo United 2 Metro Sports 1
Gachie FC 3 Delways 2
Waithaka Babes 2 Hidden Talent 1
Milo FC 1 Veg Pro 1 - Milo FC won 6-5 in post match penalties

and in the bland parallel local leagues:
Coast 1 Homegrown 0
Red Berets 2 Gor Mahia 1
Mumias 3 AFC Leopards 0

This Week in Kenyan Football

The week started with a painful reminder of the effects of the FIFA ban on Kenyan Football when KFF halted issuance of International transfer certificates meaning Kenyan players will have a really hard time trying to get to play for teams outside Kenya. However, a bit of this news' sour taste was removed when the start of the Super 8 tournament was announced - only for it to be reinstated with the realization that the Supastrikas are kings of Kenya!

Kamanda, the destroyer, mad matters worse when he literally signed Kenya's ticket to football hell. He decided to only hold negotiations with KFF officials after a court ruling due on the 28th of february - incidentally the last day of the FIFA deadline to Kenya. Indeed, FIFA are playing hardball but our good sports minister is a man under pressure and seems to have resorted to dirty tricks. Maybe he is at fault in all this and should just leave our game alone. We do not need politicians in football!!

The Most Popular Team in Kenya

If we take out the obvious fan-favorites like Arsenal and Man u, which team do you think is the most popular in kenya? Perhaps the once mighty Gor Mahia? Or their arch-rivals the AFC leopards?

Wrong, and wrong. I say the most popular team in Kenya is the Supastrikas. For one thing, they have a huge fan-base and play in a fabulous league. They even have a website! Note that Kenya's Thika United are the only tem that have a website to write home about. It is well designed, well maintained and even, gasp, regularly updated. Perhaps some of you mayhave seen Mathare United's website and wonder what i'm talking about. True, they do have a website but, up until a few months ago, it hadn't been updated for years. What about the other teams? Nope. No websites. Not even Tusker(ironically, they are bankrolled by EABL) or the champions, Sony Sugar.

But perhaps it doesn't make much money-sense to invest so much in a team that plays in a country whose football scene is in shambles. Maybe that's why the most popular team in Kenya exists only in comic books. The Daily Nation say it best:

'Unfortunately, what is portrayed in the Supastrikas remains just that: a dream far removed from the reality of the miserable drag that is the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) Premier League.'

So, is the most popular player in Kenya Shakes Makena?

It's Here!!

The much awaited Safaricom Super 8 football tournament is finally here to save us from the current chaos in the local league. For those of you who don't know, the tournament is held annually and attracts teams from all the 8 locations(if my std. 4 GHC serves me right) of Nairobi. Over the weekend, the current champions, Dandora All Stars, were held to a 1-1 draw by the previous year's champions, Dandora Youth. The game was a friendly to serve as a curtain opener for the tournament, which has been characterized by huge turn outs by fans.
It seems Embakasi is King of Nairobi.


In other news, here are the results from the parallel local league matches over the weekend.
Howgrown 0 Mathare Youth 0
Red Berets 1 KCB 2
Gor Mahia 1 Mumias 1
Sony 0 Mahakam 0

Mumias 2 Kangemi 1
Mahakama 0 Shabana 0
Thika 0 Mathare Youth 0

This Week in Kenyan Football

Even by the high Kenyan standards, this has been a strange week indeed. As we all know, FIFA had a meeting that could have resulted in the lifting of the ban it put on Kenya. As expected, they(Blatter & Co.) dashed all our hopes and didn't lift the ban. However, our good sports minister applauded the decision. Maybe he forgot that all other countries are preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations, not to forget that Tanzania are going to Brazil! At least he got a letter! (If you know what I mean.)

In other news, while our coach was scouting for talent, the team bus was sold, by a former KFF secretary General, no less. Talk of milking us! Also, the goverment hit out at FIFA and was promptly served with a warning while the case against Munro was declared illegal!

Let's hope sanity returns soon, even as we look forward to yet another weekend of two parallel leagues!

Olaba at Work

We all know that the Kenya national football team has been banned by FIFA since last year. But does anyone know where our (current) national coach is?

Folks, it seems like we finally have a coach that cares. Olaba was recently in the North Eastern province hosting a football tournament, scouting for new talent for the Harambee Stars. And it paid off! He invited one promising middlefielder (who he, incidentally, compared to Ronaldinho) for try-outs with the Stars. Now the only problem is the nagging question: when will the Harambee Stars play again?

Normal Service?

So this weekend saw the return of action to the local league, albeit under the confusing circumstances of the FIFA ban and the looming danger of parallel league chaos all over again.

Still, its better than nothing, right? Let's hope we don't slip any more and that this turns out to be a step forward.

Here are the results:

Sony 1 Ulinzi 0
Mathare United 3 Coast Stars 0

The Chemelil Vs Agro Chemicals match was not played because Agrochem refused to play it, citing chaos in the local league. Let's hope that they'll live to regret that decision and that there's no chaos.

Other results (Sunday's):
AFC 0 Gor 0
Sony 1 Red Berets 0
Tusker 2 Mathare youth 0
World Hope 2 Coast Stars 1

Hope?

I don't know if we'll get some regular football action back any time soon. Evrything seems to be going horribly wrong regarding our football. But I guess we just have to hope that all goes well.

Hope to hold on,
Hope to believe in,
Hope to faith,
Hope to trust,
Hope to endure,
Hope to God,