The national football team, Harambee Stars is no doubt the face of Kenyan football. Performance of this team indicates the level of Kenyan football by way of monthly rankings by world governing body FIFA. In 2021, Harambee Stars played ten matches, hitting the headlines for reasons good and bad. Mostly bad.Going by how the team expressed itself on the pitch in the third and fourth rounds of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double against Comoros late last year, Kenyans had little or no hope in sealing a place in the final set to be held in Cameroon starting next month. Kenya donated four points to Comoros, a team that was earlier thought to be a football minnow going by their FIFA ranking, leaving Kenyans livid particularly with Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee. Mulee had been appointed to fill in the shoes left by Francis Kimanzi who had done incredibly well in assembling a team that had a good blend of both local and foreign based players.Thank You, @mozzartbetkenya for believing in Kenyan football, and believing in us 🙏🙏 🔗 https://t.co/Ehnfi9VoY7#Tunaweza pic.twitter.com/TsWVlHXiPW— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) October 9, 2021 Having dropped points against Comoros, Kenyans appeared didn’t have confidence with Mulee going into the final qualifying rounds against record African champions Egypt and Togo. The tactician who had deserted the touchline for a decade was on the receiving end of criticism for turning a blind eye on local talents in favor of big names against Comoros. Mulee appeared to draw direction from the old adage that goes; it is only a fool who doesn’t change his mind. He dropped majority of foreign players for the time he was in charge this year opting for local based players. Weeks to the penultimate AFCON qualifier against Egypt, the former Tusker gaffer summoned local players and going by the calibre of the opponent and the need by the team to redeem its image from the poor show against Comoros, the federation organized two test matches.Stars saw off South Sudan by a solitary goal at the Nyayo National Stadium on March 13 to start off the year on a positive note. The match was settled by debutant Elvis Rupia who finished off a sublime cross by Danson Chetambe who was also making debut.Apart from the two players five more made their maiden start for the national team. They include Adisa Omar, Nashon Alembi, Boniface Onyango, John Macharia and Collins Shichenje.Two days after dimming the Bright Stars, Kenya floored Tanzania 2-1 at the same venue with goals from Eric Kapaito and Abdallah Hassan reducing Ayub Lyanga to a mere consolation.The performance of the local players in the two matches seemingly instilled hope to the fans ahead of the visiting Pharaohs who badly needed a point from the game to inch closer to qualifying to the continental show.Match Day!!!🏆 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers🆚 Uganda📅 Thursday, November 11, 2021🏟️ St.Mary’s stadium ⌚ 4 pm EAT📺 FIFA TV#Tunaweza pic.twitter.com/hj0EJJBspg— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) November 11, 2021 While naming the foreign players for the match, Mulee surprisingly overlooked former skipper Victor Wanyama who was enjoying the form of his life in Canada.Against Egypt, the relatively younger Stars team gallantly fought to share spoils at the Kasarani Stadium. Kenya might have had its dream to book a slot in Cameroon but the brave in which they accosted Egypt left many convinced that Mulee was building a solid team for the future. Stars finished with ten men after Johnstone Omurwa was sent off for an off the ball incident at a time when Kenya was looking for the match winning goal.Four days after Egypt duel, Stars hit the runaway to Togo where against the odds won 2-1 despite the best players in the team reportedly testing positive for coronavirus hours to kick off. Hassan and Masud Juma were on target in a match which Nzoia Sugar assistant captain Kevin Juma and Ulinzi Stars left back Harun Mwale made his debut.The strong finish in the AFCON qualifiers was supposed to lay a strong base for the World Cup qualifiers where Stars who were placed in pool G was seeking to at least advance to the second round.Here’s our @mozzartbetkenya Moment of the Day: Arguably our best chance against Mali at Nyayo Stadium ☺️We go again against Uganda and Rwanda next month.#Tunaweza pic.twitter.com/bFQKs687l5— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) October 11, 2021 The team couldn’t have begged for better support ahead of the World Cup qualifiers as stakeholders openly drummed support and challenged the players to give a good account of themselves in the pool.Playing at home in the first match on September 2, Stars put a disappointing show to play neighbours Uganda to a barren draw and would surrender their lead to draw Rwanda 1-1 in the second game that was played three days later. Michael Olunga scored Kenya’s goal in the match.Before the two matches, Mulee once again failed to include Wanyama in the team and would confirm that Olunga would be the team’s skipper going forward.The poor start and other reasons that still remain a mystery for Kenyans saw Mulee leave the team on September 15 with the federation insisting that the Patanisho co-host left on mutual consent.Asante Sana for your support through the qualifiers.A lot of lessons learned, and hopefully, we’ll be back stronger for the upcoming International window in February next year.#Tunaweza pic.twitter.com/jcQVb0tR3k— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) November 15, 2021 Just three days after Mulee was thrown out, the federation was heavily criticized for unveiled Turkish national Engin Firat on a six-month long contract as the new boss.Prior to the arrival of Firat, Mulee’s backroom staff had named a provisional squad for the third qualifier match against Mali.Firat, the man whose previous record didn’t inspire hope served Stars fans with shock as he made weird changes in the starting team and was punished heavily for the selection mistakes as Mali won 5-0.It is safe to conclude that the heavy loss is what triggered a change of direction and leadership of Kenyan football as the rage spread from ordinary fans to top government officials with all asking of Firat’s suitability for the job.💬 | “We should now focus on building for the future,” ~ Coach Engin Firat pic.twitter.com/IMkqvXyttQ— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) November 16, 2021 Three days after the drubbing Stars couldn’t make good use of home advantage as they fell to the same opponent by a solitary goal and thus stood no chance of making to the second round. What remained for the team was to finish strong and at the same time preserve its bruised ego by thrashing Uganda and Rwanda in the final rounds that were played in November. Buoyed by the 3 million sponsorship deal from Mozzart Bet dished before the third round, the team at least gave Kenyans something to celebrate about in the two matches.A unforgivable error by Brian Bwire who was making his second appearance in the team cost Stars a win in Kitende as Uganda equalized at death to force a 1-1 draw. Olunga had given Kenya the lead only for Fahad Bayo to steal the ball from Bwire’s hands,a challenge that certainly was supposed to be a foul on the custodian to net the equalizer.Stars would whip an already surrendered Rwanda 2-1 in the final qualifier match that was the last for Firat and the first to be played under the caretaker committee. Olunga who finished the qualification campaign with three goals and Richard Odada were on target for Stars.Happy birthday 🎂 Richard Odada!@OdadaRichard 🇰🇪 pic.twitter.com/WowfhOjPLK— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) November 25, 2021 In total, Stars scored nine goals in the ten matches played and conceded twelve. The team won four times, drew a similar number of matches and lost twice. With the new year first approaching, the caretaker committee in conjunction with the government must move with speed and appoint a new Stars head coach for assignments ahead. It is the prayer of football enthusiasts to see the national U17 and U20 teams which are supposed to groom for the senior team duties get back to action next year.
