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KENYA
NIGERIA
I have never been a fan of foreign based players in the Kenyan national team.
In my opinion, they are always overrated and in some cases not good footballers at all.
My point usually is that we never get to see them play on a week to week basis and we are not sure what they can offer the national team.
We usually just read that they have played or were on the bench somewhere in the world.
If you ask someone what they can do, they will not give you a concrete answer, who knows??
Osiako
During the recent friendly match pitting the Harambee Stars and South Africa's Bafana Bafana, one thing clearly stood out.
The missing link in midfield.
We started the match with Patrick Osiako and Victor Wanyama in midfield, two players who if you believe the hype, are world class.
They play in foreign leagues in Europe and are always in the news for various reasons.
But when it matters and they are here, they fail to show what they can do when they join up with the national team.
Average
Osiako was very average on the day and was duly substituted in the second half.
I have watched the guy play for the Stars on a couple of occasions and for me, he looks worse every time I see him.
A total waste of a plane ticket IMO.
In his position here at home, we have players who can do the job far better than he can, Humphrey Mieno and maybe even Rama Salim come to mind.
And many others too...
Chances
Wanyama too was not very good either. He passed the ball well but held it up on far too many occasions thus slowing down our game.
He too was in some ways subdued, though he did break up play a couple of times and hassled the South Africans.. Him, we can excuse because he plays for a good football club.
Others should be tried and tested in their positions.
Francis Kahata of Thika United was my man of the match, he was not afraid to take on players and wanted the ball all the time. He was creative too. He can also locate spaces and run into them with the ball at feet. Very impressive from the Thika man.
A definite player for the future.
Local players
I sure do have a problem with many of the foreign players coming into the side, but at the end of the day, the local ones need to prove themselves too.
They will have their chance at the end of the year and I will watch them to see how well they perform.
Still though, Osiako and Wanyama.. I expected more.
