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KENYA
NIGERIA
I will start by putting some things straight..
I am no football tactician or analyst. Neither am I a person who can read those boards that coaches use on the pitch-side with magnetic dots on them to explain formations.
Furthermore, I am close to 100 kg's big and three meters per hour fast.. I simply can't run.
The only time I played a sport (Pro-Evolution Soccer), I repeatedly passed the ball to the opponent team and blamed the controls for failing me on numerous occasions.
Point is, I am simply not cut out to be a sportsperson.
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On the other hand, I know how to read books and analyse whatever the people who have written them are trying very hard to say.
Thanks to having a degree in psychology, I can somehow understand what people feel and how they think and react to certain situations and experiences.
Having been a teacher at some point in my life, I can see who is cut out for one thing and who is not for another. I can tell an A grade student and a failure within ten minutes of sitting down with them.
I can also tell a right from a wrong with ease (In truth everyone can)
And having watched football all my adult and productive life, I can actually tell a bad player from a good one.
Interesting decision
Having defended myself in the first two paragraphs, I will now head straight to my point.
How on earth does a national team of 47 million Kenyans have Gor Mahia's Chris Wekesa and Eugene Asike as it's fullbacks?
How in the light of day does a coach who is paid four million bob a month choose those two guys in those positions?
How and why do they get to play most of the game in a friendly match against a good South African outfit and we have better players out there?
Why?
Under pressure
As a person who has watched football a long time, I can tell that the two aforementioned guys are not full-backs by trade. They can be forced to play there and work out, just like Wekesa is at Gor Mahia, but they are just not cut out for those positions.
For a fact, Asike isn't a full-back while I still do not understand why and how Wekesa plays there.
They are not confident enough to move up the pitch, especially in an age where full-backs are required to shoulder the creative burden on the team.
Against Bafana it was obvious they are not mobile enough and even worse is that they could not play the ball out from the back, meaning our midfielders and central defenders were eternally under pressure.
They made it easy for Bafana to defend and hard for us to play.
Changes
AFC Leopards' Edwin Wafula came on in the second half and things improved, but on the other side, nothing changed, as Wekesa continued lumbering.
As a football fan and nothing else, my question is, are Wekesa and Asike/ Wafula the best we can do?
I will leave that to the coaching staff, who are the professionals.
My feeling is though, for a country of 47 million, we are much better than what we had yesterday. We have many players who can play the full-back role.
Or am I wrong?
