By Phillip Ouma
The
Kenya U17 contingent of 16 players and three officials who traveled to
Pretoria for the COPA Coca-Cola inter-country tournament will travel back home
today, Saturday, after a fairly successful tournament that saw the team finish
a decent fourth out of fourteen countries.
The
team will depart OR Tambo international airport in Johannesburg at exactly
1.15pm Kenyan time for the flight and they will be expected to touch down at
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) nearly four hours later.
“We
didn’t win the tournament as we planned to but we will be traveling home with
our heads held up high because we did our best given the circumstances,” said
Coach Arthur Apiyo who expressed his desire to continue working with the
players and the current U17 coach David Ouma.
Kenya
registered laudable results during the 12-day international camp at St. Alban’s
College in Pretoria in spite of being only one among other three teams who were
not in camp prior to the tournament. They convincingly beat Uganda, shrugged
off the challenge of Tanzania and also indexed in a comfortable 1-0 win over
Central and West Africa (CEWA) combined team.
Kenya
also managed draws against eventual champions Zambia and continental
heavyweights Nigeria. Even the narrow 1-0 losses against Mozambique who already
departed for their U17 duties, Malawi and Zimbabwe could have been wins was
there some luck on the side.
“Just
like fine wine, every good thing takes time,” said Arthur who had only two days
to train the team. “The talent is there, but we just need to refine it going
forward,” he added.
The
performance of the Kenyan team didn’t escape the eyes of talent scouts at the
tournament. Two Kenyan players, Eugene Moses Mukangula and Omar Mwinyi, were
keenly followed by scouts from South Africa Premier League side Supersport
United while defender Sadam Abdulahi and midfield anchorman and team captain
Haron Nyakha made it to the COPA All-Star team.
“It’s
been a good experience for us and we’ve picked a lot from the competition which
we will put to use back at home,” said Ramadhan Abdulmalik who shrugged off a
nagging injury to feature for Kenya.
“This
was a step in the right direction for all the players. But we have reached the
limit yet; the journey has just began,” said Castro Mwaura who was among the
goal scorers for the Kenyan team.
The
only thing that is not clear is what happens with the team going forward. Kenya
U17 was due to play Tanzania on September 9th but the match has
since been cancelled. “We are ready to for any duty when called upon. From what
I have seen, there’s little doubt that we can indeed be the future of Kenyan
football,” said diminutive right full-back Kevin Otieno.
Ends.
By Phillip Ouma
Kenya’s COPA Coca-Cola U17 team narrowly missed out
on the medals after finishing fourth as curtains came down on the 2012 COPA
inter-country international camp tournament at St. Alban’s College in Pretoria,
South Africa.
Kenya collected three points on the final day of
the tournament after easing past Central East and West Africa (CEWA) team by a
solitary goal from Mohamed “Kafupi” Said.
Kenya was among three other teams that finished on
11 points, the other two being CEWA and Mozambique. Zambia’s Chipolopolo stars
lifted the trophy after amassing 16 points, two ahead of runners-up Tanzania
and a further four ahead of third-placed Malawi who finished on 12 Points.
“This was a great team effort. The players gave
their all in this tournament and you could see they all worked their socks off
in all the matches,” said Coach Arthur Apiyo who promised there’s more to come.
Kenya narrowly lost three matches against Zimbabwe,
Malawi and Mozambique by a solitary goal. Had they converted some clear-cut
opportunities, the boys could have won the tournament as they had earlier
promised.
“We had a good win against a very strong Tanzanian
team, we easily beat Uganda and CEWA, both very good teams. We came close to
beating champions Zambia as well as Nigeria. We never gave ourselves an excuse
for not performing well,” said Arthur.
Uganda finished third from bottom with 10 points,
two ahead of Nigeria who finished with 8. Zimbabwe finished rock bottom with 7
points.
“We tried our level best but luck was not on our
side. But I know the future is bright for this team because there’s definitely
talent amongst us as well as the fighting spirit,” noted goalkeeper Edwin
Mukolwe.
His competitor for the position between the posts
Stephen Ogweno had kind words for the coach. “We were 16 players and the coach
gave us all a chance to shine by consistently rotating the team but we all
gelled nevertheless,” said Ogweno who was between the posts for the games
against Malawi and CEWA.
The Kenyan team will travel back on Saturday.
Meanwhile two players from Kenya will feature for
the COPA All-Star. Captain Haron Nyakha who plays the defensive midfield
position and central defender Sadam Abdulahi were named in the All-Star team.
“We are thankful to the team because we couldn’t have made it here were it not
for the team effort,” said Nyakha who is a student at Kakamega High School.
“They have stood out amongst us and we will be
supporting them all the way,” said Alfred Wekesa who scored one of the best
goals of the tournament.
The All-Star team will play against Supersport
United U19 team on Friday. Talent scouts from the club have been scouting for
talent during the tournament and have pinpointed two Kenyan players, Omar
Mwinyi and Eugene Moses.
Ends--
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