Leopards will need more than pedigree to excel

Once again AFC Leopards have learnt the hard way that age counts for little in modern football where organisation and hard work are the name of the game.

Ingwe were eliminated in the preliminary round of the annual Caf Confederation Cup organised.

Although some fans are still bragging that Ingwe have been knocked out unbeaten, the fact is they are out of the competition at its very earliest of stages.

FOSA Juniors who progressed on away rule after draw 1-1 draw in Kakamega and 0-0 draw in Madagascar, is a small team compared to AFC Leopards in terms of age. But despite being only three years old they take football seriously.

The Madagascan side had a three-week camp in Holland before the first leg match, unlike Leopards who started their pre-season a bit late, with most of their new signings acquired at the end of the transfer window.

Prior to this match, FOSA Juniors coach Bob Kootwijk watched Leopards in action twice ahead of their meeting and noted how disorganised we are.

In short, the FOSA’s win proves that good preparations pays dividends.

After missing the first leg due to document issues, Ingwe management promised to secure the required papers for central defender Salim Abdalla and midfielder Erick Bekoe, but failed to do so.

AFC Leopards coach Robert Matano travelled with three strikers, Henry Uche, Ezekiel Odera and Vincent Oburu. However, Oburu was not fielded as he was carrying an injury.

Strikers Prince Arkoh (injured) did not travel as well as Ezekiel Otuoma, who was on the tour list but remained behind because of ticket issues.

Marvin Omondi and Clyde Senaji (both midfielders) did not travel because of late Caf registration.

But we have around 30 players in the first team squad who must be ready to do duty whenever they are called upon.

Ingwe leadership must provide infrastructure and the finances and the players and coaches will do their part. Without structures we cannot be a football club worth its salt.

Good governance has been entrenched in some clubs in Africa and Ingwe too need leaders who share same vision and have interest of the club at heart.

When leadership is a problem, confusion reigns and hopelessness sets in.

Let’s encourage hard work and passion for the club. For me, it’s teamwork that will push the club towards success.

Following the heavy recruitment in January, Leopards had every chance of winning in Kakamega and then applying defensive specialists away, but their sluggish home display and lack of attacking threats was their let down.

In the 1970s and 1980s any team from small football nations like Madagascar would have soaked in not less than six goals here at home.

There is huge difference between today’s AFC Leopards and the Leopards of yesteryears. Perhaps we should go back to our long tradition of recruiting players from schools and estate tournaments and investing in an academy to nurture more talents.

We have talent that we can tap and develop especially in Western Kenya where football is adored.

The league is only four weeks old, but fans will not entertain any string of poor performance.

Matano must know that fans will not accept more errors after he narrowly escaped the sack for not going beyond the preliminary round of the Confed Cup as he had promised.