Kenyan international Erick ‘Marcelo’ Ouma has responded to criticism for his lacklustre performances at Harambee Stars despite setting the Swedish Allsvenskan league ablaze with impeccable performances.The 25-year-old failed to provide an assist or register a goal in National Team colours as Harambee Stars missed out on the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations or the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup playoffs. ⏮🔙🇰🇪 pic.twitter.com/HKmizsfyxX— Erick Ouma (@Erick__ouma) December 31, 2021 Marcelo however had a memorable season with AIK in Sweden as he scored a goal and capped his impressive performances with five assists as the team lost the title to Malmo by virtue of an inferior goal difference. The former Gor Mahia wingback revealed that constantly chopping and changing the Harambee Stars squad was the reason for his struggles but he welcomed the criticism.“I took it positively but in the National Team today you are paired with one player tomorrow another then later you are playing with another player which becomes so difficult to gauge players, we usually have a few days (to gel) which can’t make a difference.It’s like showing up for an exam without reading and you want to get an A, it’s so difficult to achieve but at the end of the day you have to play for your country because you can’t choose who to play with,” said Marcelo in an interview with Jeff Kinyanjui’s YouTube channel.The Kakamega High School alumnus was utilized in different positions as he was deployed as a left-back, left-winger and a right back in the return clash against Mali. Marcelo however issued a remedy to Harambee Stars struggles as he called for consistency in call up with players having little time to gel with changes in personnel. “The more you play the more you know each other as players so if we maintained the same players and team, it becomes so easy to gel though the National Team is not permanent for players but must have that consistency.🇰🇪 @Erick__ouma 👏🏽 https://t.co/is0NRdAq4a— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) December 21, 2021 We need to change our mentality about football because it is an investment that brings joy to everyone and you can see across the world how people value football more than anything, in Sweden, there are grounds everywhere,” added Marcelo.In both qualifiers, Harambee Stars changed coaches with Jacob Ghost Mulee taking over from Francis Kimanzi in the AFCON qualifiers and Engin Firat inheriting the reigns from Mulee in the World Cup qualifiers.
