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KENYA
NIGERIA
In many departments they looked good, despite having a relatively new team and a new coach.
I liked the way they gave debuts to the likes of Wesley Kemboi, who to be honest would have struggled to have made the team in previous regimes.
Players like Ayub Timbe who we considered but never used due to injury during my time in the national team, also showed why he has the promise and talent that has made him a big name here in Kenya and abroad.
Francis Kahata was also impressive. He was active in that role behind the striker and looked the most lively player on the pitch.
Dropped deep
The negatives are that we lost the game, which is not a big deal at all really and that in the end, there were some shaky parts of our game.
Most glaring was in defence, where we did not look comfortable.
The central partnership between Brian Mandela and Geoffrey Kokoyo was shaky, as they looked alien and disjointed. The full-backs too, as most people agreed, were also not in the frame for most of the game.
I was also dissapointed with the midfield, which did not give the strikers Kemboi and Dennis Oliech enough supply to feed on.
Oliech was forced to drop deep to search for the ball and that in effect gave Bafana an easy time defending our long ball tactics, which was caused by the lack of a link between the midfield and attack.
Creative force
The way I look at it, we missed McDonald Mariga, who is a real force in that area. He can pick up the ball and move it around well and again, he asserts himself like no one else we have.
I thought we also lacked the unpredictability and creativity of Jamal Mohammed.
Working with Jamal can be a problem if you do not understand him well and I know that at times his discipline is not very good, but in that area, you will not find a player as creative as Jamal.
He notices gaps that others do not and he is a tricky customer for any defender. He is a player you want in your team because he makes things happen and takes responsibility in an attacking sense.
With a player like him, I felt we could have done better in the Bafana clash.
Time
That aside, I would again like to ask Kenyans to give this new team time.
The new coach will need months, not weeks to settle down and will have to get the support of all stakeholders to perform well, because as we all agree, he is a good coach.
If he get's that, then I do not see any reason why we should perform well in future.
We have the young players, the middle-aged ones, as well as those who have some good experience. For sure we can make it, but we need time to see it through.
I look forward to a bright future for the national team.
