Kenyan legend Musa Otieno has heaped praise on the Kenya U18 team while insisting why the country must invest more in nurturing youth
Former Harrambe Stars captain Musa Otieno has revealed why emphasising on youth development will help Kenya grow as a footballing nation.
Otieno, who amassed 90 competitive caps while playing for Harambee Stars, the highest in Kenyan football history, has been keeping abreast of the CECAFA U18 Championships where a lot of upcoming Kenyan talents have shown their capabilities, and was quick to praise the coaches involved in the setup for getting them to play good football despite not training them for a long time.
“I am really grateful for the coaches in that setup because despite the fact that they had little time to prepare the boys, the football they are playing if you look (is good), “ Otieno told Habari 254 News.
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“They are young boys who are just from high school and are playing well. There is a lot of talent amongst these 18-year-old boys who are coming through and if we continue to have a pipeline that allows us to keep track of these upcoming players, we will be in a good place.”
Otieno has revealed why these tournaments will enable Harambee Stars to have a deeper pool of talent for international assignments, but believed FKF should be open to receiving help from Kenyans in order to help keep the foundations of the youth structures strong for years to come.
“These tournaments are helping [us] a lot as Kenyans and we need to have structures like these where you see that every age group even has coaches," said Otieno.
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“As Kenyans, we must also come up with ways to help FKF in their work to grow youth football because they cannot do it all alone.”
Meanwhile, Otieno has revealed the biggest reason that could pull back all these, identifying the lack of adequate infrastructure as one of them.
“Our pitches are also letting us down because now, Kenyans love football and we all do want to be somewhere,” he said.
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