I love Kenya: Adel Amrouche open to Harambee Stars return

Seven is the common denominator.

Seven years, seven coaches, seven new faces and seven fresh starts. Oops…It is actually seven false starts, seven familiar faces, seven philosophies, seven lost chances and the story goes on and on.

As the crème de la crème of African football converges in Yaounde, Cameroon for the 2021 Cup of Nations starting this Sunday, Kenyans will have to search far and wide for teams to support.

Harambee Stars has sat out of seven editions after Tunisia 2004 and greatly profited from Sierra Leone’s ban to feature in Cairo 2019.

Qualifying for the continental finals has become the norm rather than the exception and that does not sit well with one Adel Amrouche – the man who unceremoniously vacated his role as Harambee Stars coach seven years ago.

“Of course (it pains me). Kenyans need that happiness. They need to have the national team in the big events. Our players merit to play Afcon, the level of players is not to play only first round. Kenya can play minimum semi-final. They have the potential. They have all the ingredients to play top level,” observes Amrouche, who is best remembered for holding Nigeria’s Super Eagles to a 1-1 draw back in 2013.

Since he left the country, seven coaches have handled Harambee Stars. Bobby Williamson, Stanley Okumbi, Paul Put, Sebastien Migne, Francis Kimanzi, Jacob Mulee and Engin Firat have all taken charge of the national team yet it’s only Frenchman Migne who guided Kenya to Afcon 2019.

Mulee and Kimanzi were in charge of the 2021 Afcon qualification campaign, but Kenya finished third behind Egypt and Comoros. The islanders will be making their maiden Afcon appearance in Yaounde.  

“There is nothing like international and local coach. You have the talent and coaches who have ability to bring the team up. It is easy to change coaches and players but what matters is getting people who are passionate and determined to work.  

“Look at Comoros, the coach Amir Abdou was there when we (Kenya) beat them in 2014. He still has the same players and added more who play in France. Now they have qualified and that is what football is about.  

“Let one coach (do the job) and give him support but not a coach you make business with him at the expense of the country,” scoffed Amrouche.

As Kenya’s decline stretched to the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, former federation chief Nick Mwendwa noted that the country lacked the talent to compete at the highest level after a 6-0 aggregate drubbing by Mali.

While Amrouche steered away from the context of those remarks, he reckons that Kenya is a sleeping giant if only the right input is done at grassroots level.

“I will be lying if I say Kenya doesn’t have talent. I have gone to Malindi, Kilifi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kakamega, Garissa, Kajiado and everywhere people play football. People talk about grassroots but where is the foundation? Who is responsible to develop this talent? We need good coaches for the youth,” posed Amrouche, before taking a swipe at upcoming coaches.

“The problem is that players are retiring today and want to work with senior clubs or the national team tomorrow. Before I worked with seniors, I worked with the youth for like 10 years and proved my capacity.

“Now you can find one former player asking directly to coach the national team or a big club. You finish your career and want to be (Pep) Guardiola in one day?

"You must have passion to develop the youth. It’s just like Formula 1 drivers and those who drive normal cars, all have driving licenses, but if I give you Formula 1 you are going to kill yourself. I want to change mentality of some upcoming coaches who are talking too much. Work with the youth first or at club level. Prove your work with the club, don’t talk too much, work first.”

The cream of his dream team that won the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup on home soil in 2013 are slowly been phased out of Harambee Stars, but Amrouche is proud of his work that left an indelible mark in the hearts of Kenyans.

“When you are honest and do your work, people don’t forget you. When you build the team, you build with good foundation, love and sincerity. You build connection with people in and out of football. That’s why when I come to Kenya, I come with my head like this (touches chin and tilts his head up) because I did my job well.

“I had five goalkeepers, Jerim (Onyango), Arnold (Origi), Duncan (Ochieng), Wilson (Oburu), and (Wycliffe) Kasaya and I never saw any problem among them yet they were competing for one place. The relationship was fantastic because of the spirit you put in the team. If you love your players, you get the result. This is my philosophy,” he explains, arms in air.

Amrouche believes that transition is another challenge at Harambee Stars and singles out the case of current skipper Michael Olunga to drive his point home.

“As a coach, you need to have courage to choose your players. When I was here, I didn’t have a problem getting talent. I took Aboud Omar from second division, David Owino was in the bench (at Gor Mahia) same as (Edwin) Lavatsa and (Paul) Kiongera. Jamal Mohamed people wanted to finish him before his time yet he is one of the best players in Africa, just like (Jay Jay) Okocha and Abedi Pele.

“When I gave the first call-up to Olunga, he was 17. People criticised me, but the best striker now in Kenya is Olunga. I am very proud of him because it shows I didn’t make a mistake. At 17, we planned for him to be next legend in the national team like Dennis Oliech and right now he is one of the best players in Africa,” he said amid a grin.

With the national team coach position still vacant, Amrouche has been touted as one of Firat’s replacement but he is not sleeping over it. Offers have been flocking in since he left his role as Botswana coach last August.

“I have offers from some national teams and clubs,” he reveals with Korea Republic, ranked 33rd in the world, among them.

I narrow it down for him, to choose between Korea and Harambee Stars who are ranked 102nd in the world. 

“Aaah…Ugali and kuku (chicken)…or ugali and samaki (fish) anytime. In Korea, I don’t know what they eat there. I love Kenya so let’s see what happens,” he beams as his right hand repeatedly taps the left side of his chest as an expression of love.

The overall expectation is that the wait doesn’t last another seven years.