Will Mathare survive the axe?
Mathare United, a club with rich history in the Kenyan football sphere is seriously threatened by relegation this season and maybe another miracle like they football enthusiasts have witnessed previously, will save them from the axe.
Despite its success in player development,the club is once again grappling with relegation threat this season in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League. With just four league games remaining, the Slum Boys have a huge task ahead of them to maintain their presence in Kenya’s top tier competition.
They begin a final lap for survival this Saturday against KCB.They are scheduled to face Ulinzi Stars and then hit the road for western they will battle Kakamega Homeboyz and Wazito.
Newly appointed head coach Collins Omondi Korea says for them it will be about taking one game at a time in the remaining four. He is full of optimism that the former premier league champions will brave the relegation scare to stay in the league.
“In the world of football,the matches that seem hard are sometimes the easiest to play than games that are viewed to be easy on paper.We are putting in the work to ensure we get the needed wins.On the other hand they are not easy matches and therefore we need to sketch on how best to get desired results and the biggest work in our training this week has been on scoring goals and get there.
“It is a big test for me as coach and this a great way to gauge myself with tough times.You can be a good coach just by having a smooth team without such moments of challenge.It will be a big honour for me and the technical team if we happen to survive relegation,”Omondi told People Daily Sport.
The coach who is oozing with confidence going to the Saturday fixture against league title chasers KCB says he is targeting to play for all remaining 12 points although he notes that he would be satisfied should he get at least 10 points. Omondi was coy on the club’s predicaments that have led them into position 17 on the log with 22 points.However, he laments on lack of proper recruitment of players in the last two transfer windows for the 2008 Kenya Premier League champions.
“If I say the problem it would be like criticizing the previous managers who were here before me which is not good.All in all the biggest issue that has brought us here was poor recruitment. We had a lot of young players in the team.Usually a team can have about 20% players in the team and the rest should always be experienced but in our case the young players have made up to 60% of the team which is not good.The league is tough and hot the youngsters especially for those who have not been at this stage before,” he added.
Centre forward Daniel Otieno who has scored six goals and assisting another six says they are motivated to fight to the end to achieve their main target of surviving the chop.
“We are motivated in training because we know we have been in such a situation last season and understand that we need to push ourselves further so as to achieve our goal and for sure will survive.We are focusing on one game at a time and we believe in God and hard work in training,” said Otieno.
With Vihiga Bullets already down,Mathare,Wazito,Nairobi City Stars,Bidco and FC Talanta are all not safe and will be fighting for maximum points to avoid league elimination.
