Wanga closer to the Girabola!

Kenya’s international striker, Allan Wanga is on the brink! Wanga plays professional football in Angola for Petro Atletico. With only 5 matches to go, Petro is a clear 6 points more than second placed Agosto.

Petro Atletico needs only 6 points from a possible 15 in their last remaining 5 matches. They play away to Kapscorp Palancas tomorrow and hope to win the match. It has been a long 7 year wait to win the trophy and they cannot afford to let this trophy slip away from their grip this time round. Last weekend Petro Atletico thumped last year’s champions Interclub 3-1 at home to really run away from the second placed Agosto. The line-up that did duty for Petro is pictured on the left, with Allan featuring prominently int the starting line-up. Petro has 48 points while Agosto has 42.

Wanga has seen the back of net 4 times with each goal proving to be very crucial during Petro’s league campaign. Allan’s predatory instincts attracted the eyes of Petro’s scouts when they came to Kenya a year ago. During that time Allan was on top shape helping Tusker win the Kenyan Premier League title. Allan has since then not looked back and is a real asset to Petro Atletico.

Wanga, we are keeping our fingers crossed and are praying for you and the Mighty Petro Atletico. Go for it!!!

Allan jets back into the country on the 6th of October to join the rest of the Kenyan National team players in Kasarani where they will be camping preparing for their last group World Cup qualifiers match against Guinea in Conakry on the 11th of October.Kenya has already qualified for the next stage of the group qualifiers but aims to top the group. A draw will be enough for them as they have a superior goal aggregate compared to the Guineans.

Kenyan premier League weekend updates

The race for the Kenyan Premier League continued having acute turns and twists as it approaches its final home stretch.

On the lower half of the table it was the story of survival for the fittest as teams posted mixed result with 8 matches to go. Former league and Nelson Mandela Cup Champions are facing great danger of relegation. They lost 1-0 away to Sony Sugar in Awendo.

Mathare United’s title hopes suffered a setback when they lost 2-0 away to Ulinzi. Both of the Ulinzi goals came in the second half of the game. Evans Ang’oka and Francis Ochieng scored a goal each to run away with 3 valuable points. The defeat saw Mathare United’s 5 point lead over second placed Sony cut to just two points after Sony posted a 1-0 win against the once Mighty Gor Mahia. Time is really running out on Gor who must start winning today if the hope to continue playing in the Premier league tomorrow. James Siang’a, the Gor Mahia tactician has had a magic touch whenever he takes over any team. But things do not seem to be working for him this time round His has been a mixture of draws and defeats.

Alive came Mathare Youth when they found their winning boots again crushing Red Berets 1-0. The loss threw Red Berets into deep trouble. They are now placed second from Bottom with 22 points. The Mathare lads climbed slightly out of the relegation zone after the result. Michael Ochieng Scored the goal that sunk the men in uniform in the 71st minute of the game. Mathare Youth is now placed 14th out 16 teams. Henry Majale the Vice Chairman of Mathare Youth FC was over the moon after the win. He did not have a chance to watch the game but said that the win would go a long way towards boosting his team’s morale. “The win has come at a very good time. We have a tough game against Tusker during this coming weekend. All I can say is that we look forward to beating the beermen.

Tusker FC, smarting from their 2-1 away win over Bandari a week ago got the going tough again last weekend when they took on Chemelil Sugar FC at the Kasarani Stadium. Too many unnecessary  and unproductive passes in the midfield coupled with a very sorry attack provided a very good recipe for defeat. They succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of well drilled Chemelil. Zedikiah Otieno seems to have mastered the art of survival and proving to be more and more untouchable. Before taking on Tusker FC, speculation was rife that he would be shown the door if he lost against Tusker FC.

Sher Karuturi travelled all the way to Western Stima but came back without kicking a ball. Before the match, there was a very heavy downpour that  rendered the pitch unplayable.

Humphrey Mieno danced his way to the changing room after sending Yusuf Chippo’s KCB home without a point when they played Mahakama FC. Mieno, who is also in the national U20 team scored the all important goal that did damage to the bankers. Leonard Saleh has shown some slight touch since arriving at Mahakama FC two months ago. Mahakama bosses now have some confidence that they can gradually crawl out of the relegation zone.

Home side Agro Chemicals took full advantage of their home crowd trouncing other title contenders Thika United 2-1. Thika had initially silenced the home side when they scored first but Agro replied swiftly with goals from Gordon Okoth and Edward Nandi.

Assistant Sports Minister closes course

Hon Kabando wa Kabando addresses participants

The Sports Assistant Minister, Mr Kabando wa Kabando was the official guest of honour during the closing ceremony of the KISE-Organised 10 day coaching course which ended yesterday at the Goan Institute. The course drew participants from different parts of the country.

In his speech to the participants, the assistant minister congratulated all the graduands for being so determined in attending the course and hoped that they will share the knowledge they had acquired with their communities when they got back to their respective areas of residence. He further informed the participants that the government was working very hard to make sure that the Sports Policy bill is passed in the floor of parliament to streamline the general running of sports in the country.

The Assistant minister was accompanied by the Kenya Football Federation Technical Director Mr Patrick Naggi. Mr Naggi on his part reiterated the importance of the coaches being affiliated to the Kenya Football Federation. He urged the trained coaches to organise coaching clinics periodically to help uplift the standards of football in the country.

The Assistant minister later on gave certificates to the coaches before officially closing the course. He later on posed for a group photo with the participants.

Physiotherapists tip coaches

Marianne Lislevand, her colleague Siri Lund from Norway and Enos Karani last Tuesday gave a 1 day sports injuries prevention session to coaches attending the KISE-organised footbal coaching course. Both Marianne and Siri are doing a masters degree programme in Sports Physiotherapy at a Norwegian University.

The intensive sessions were very well organised and included practival and theory sessions. Enos Karani is a former Mathare United goalkeeper and does fitness training to the team which trains at the Goan Institute.

Plans and discussions are at an advanced stage to include the topic on sports injuries on all KISE-Organised coaching courses. The participants who attended the course really appreciated the topic and asked that in future courses it be given more time.

Rehabilitation patterns of injured players was also discussed in depth. There exists a current situation where coaches, and even players do not know how to take good care that players careers do not get endangered by not practising sufficiently or at times over-practising.

The lectures and practicals gave by the three physios were an eye opener to the participants.

Mulama’s return helps VSK win

Titus Mulama helped his Swedish Club Vasteras SK beat Syrianska Botrkyrka 2-1 over the weekend to push. The influencial midfielder was out for 3 weeks with a groin injury which also made his miss the Harambee Stars World Cup-Cum-African Cup of Nations qualifier match against Namibia in Nairobi two weeks ago. The team captain of VSK Martin Andersson scored the first goal while Jonas Botold scored the other.

Mulama played a full 90 minutes in the game which saw him impressively tearing down the Syrianska midfield with his split passes to the strikers. Mulama only trained for 6 days before the match but showed no signs of rustiness. He was as comfortable as usual on the ball dictating the pace in the midfield throughout the game.

Mulama ’s club plays in the first division in the Swedish league and is currently lying in the third position with 5 matches to go. A few weeks ago they were holding strongly to the second position but slumped to third after losing 3 consecutive matches. On the 21st of September they play Bodens BK after which they play Syrianska on the 27th. They will then take on Ersboda on the 5th of October and Umea on the 12th. They finish off with Sylvia on the 19th.

There is no other way out. Vasteras has to win all their remaining matches to have a realistic chance of winning the title, which they are capable of doing.

Mathare Youth throws away vital points

Mathare Youth shared the spoils today in a very entertaining encounter against Mahakama at the Nyayo national stadium today. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

But Mathare Youth will blame themselves for allowing Mahakama to grab a point from them. Mathare Youth had looked to secure all the 3 points but with 1 minute to go Harambee Stars striker Francis Chinjili scored the equaliser.

With both teams still struggling to come out of the bottom of the table, both coaches played a very cautious game in the first half but the match burst into life in the second half. Mathare were the first to score through Francis Ochieng.

They were unlucky when Kennedy Kimani was sent off as the game progressed. Gabriel Njoroge and Leonard Saleh, who are the coaches of Mathare Youth and Mahakam respectively have a herculian task to win a good part of their remaining matches to avoid relegation. A relegation for any of the teams will be disastrous to the them as both teams have very good young and promising players. But they simply have not been able to collect wins consistently. Leonard Saleh ook over from Michael Amenga in Mahakama had rediscovered the winning ways of Mahakama when the team won a couple of matches including beating Ulinzi 2-1 last weekend. They looked set to continue with their winning ways but were checked by Mathare Youth who could have easily beaten them today.

Nandwa not happy with draw

Sher Karuturi’s Head Coach James Nandwa is not a happy man. He wanted nothing short of victory to propel them to 31 points when they met World Hope at the Hope Center today. But his boys had to settle for a barren draw with World Hope.

Nandwa, who is also the assistant National team coach told our editor on phone how disappointed he was with the draw. “We had come here to win to boost our chances of finishing in a respectable position. Instead we got a point. The players too were very disappointed with the result but I know they will bounce back and focus on the next assignments. The League is getting tighter and tighter as it comes to an end. Every point now counts.”

The Naivasha based side is currently lying sixth in the standings of 16 teams with a total of 29 points. Both teams missed good scoring chances and at the end of the 90 minutes they had to be content with the result.

Kimanzi has the last laugh in Thika

With the battle for the Kenya Premier League racing to the wire, Thika United hosted Mathare United in Thika with the hope to beat them to close in on the leaders who are becoming more and more unreachable, untouchable and furthermore uncontainable.

Thika looked set to beat Mathare as they continued with ferocious attacks which kept their local fans on their toes the whole afternoon. But the killer blow was to come sooner rather than later. It is now becoming clearer and clearer that Kimanzi’s tactical approaches are far too superior than other coaches. He has instilled tactical discipline in his side, never witnessed in any other of the Kenyan Premier League Clubs. The meticulously built up team patiently waits for the right time to strike. Mathare convinces other teams to attack them, leaving so many gaping spaces in their own midfield and defence lines.

Kimanzi has built his team’s way of play around ruthless counterattacks which are executed with lightning speed and accuracy that leaves many teams shocked with the clinical nature of the counters.

It happened again against Thika. Innocent Mutiso scored the all-important goal in the second half. The industrious midfielder scored the all important goal in the second half of the match. Mathare United now seems to be the outright favourites to win the league although Sony Sugars FC is still breathing behind them. Sony also beat Agro-Chemicals 2-0 in Awendo yesterday. But Mathare leads the pack with 4 points more than Sony and it seems the league is Mathare’s to lose. The team that is known for its entertaining style of play has never won the Premier League title before and Kimanzi looks set to break this jinx.

Just a week ago he broke the jinx of Kenya losing to Namibia every time they met. Kenya beat Namibia by 1-0 at Kasarani to book a ticket to the next qualifiers round for the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations in 2010.

KISE officially launches its website

There was pomp and happiness on the 8th of September as the KISE website went live at 10.30 am in the  morning. Dr Auma Obama from CARE INTERNATIONAL unveiled the KISE website in a Ceremony attended by the Sports Secretary in the Ministry of Sports Mr Daniel Maanzo, the Kenya Football Federation Technical Director, Mr Patrick Naggi and Mr Fredrick Eijkman who is one of the founding Trustees of the Kisumu Youth Football Association. Dr Auma Obama requested that the website be more interactive by having a section where people can ask questions on different football topics. The unveiling ceremony was done in combination with the coaching course that KISE had planned. Over 33 participants who attended the course also got a chance to visit the site.

Francis Kimanzi and Peter Serry, the two coaching instructors from KISE were also present during the ceremony. Members of the press covered the opening ceremony comprehensively as pages from the site went live. The informative website gives detailed information about its services.

KISE kicks off its Coach Education Programmes

Kenyan coaches, referees and Football Administrators have got every reason to smile as KISE officially kicked off its coach education programmes. The coaches now know that they won’t have to go far to get good quality football coaching courses at affordable rates. Similar courses will be done countrywide in the coming months.

KISE started its first coaching course at the Goan Institute today. The course has attracted a record 31 coaches from different parts of the country.  The 10 day course is part of KISE’s ambitious plan of assisting the Kenya Football Federation educate Kenyan Coaches from the Grassroots level to the highest level of coaching courses in Kenya. Nationwide, Premier League and Academies’ coaches are attending the course. Coaches from as far as Mombasa and Kisumu are following the Course. The Kisumu Youth Football Association has sent more than 8 coaches to attend the course.

The Secretary of Sports, Mr Daniel Maanzo, who was one of the Chief guests who were invited to officially open the course pointed out that it was very crucial that the trained coaches be given support and be used to educate other younger coaches in the regions they come from. He pledged government’s support to KISE to realise its objective of training more coaches around the country.

Dr Auma Obama, from CARE and the Cordinator of Sports for Social Change Network encouraged KISE to organise courses for female coaches. She wants to see more females taking the challenge of becoming football coaches. She congratulated KISE for the new initiative, which she said would go a long way towards assisting train more coaches.

Mr Fredrick Eijkman congratulated KISE during the ceremony, saying that their initiative has come in at the right time when Kenyans are really in need of quality coaching programmes. KYFA also assists train coaches in Kisumu and so far has been able to send one of their coaches to Holland to attend a Trainer-Coach II course.

Mr Patrick Naggi, the Kenya Football Federation Technical Director, lauded the initiative in his speech during the opening ceremony, and said it was a step in the right direction.

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