Kudos Tanzania for leading region in junior football

Football World Cups are for other countries – or at least that’s how it feels in this part of the world. Football fans in East Africa have grown up knowing that going to the World Cup, any world cup, is the loftiest of lofty ambitions. That the only instance when one is allowed to link a tournament this big with an East African country is in a dream. That the closest a world cup trophy can get to this part of the country is during the seasonal promotional tour.

But, it has happened next door. Early this week, Tanzania’s Serengeti Girls beat giants Cameroon 5-1 to seal their spot in the Fifa Under-17 World Cup. With that result, Tanzania became the first Cecafa nation to qualify for any FIFA women’s tournament.

I don’t mean to pose as a prophet, but in my column of December 10, 2021, during the Africa Under-20 Women's World Cup qualifiers where Kenya performed dismally, losing 10-3 on aggregate to Uganda, I wrote that we need to clean up our act or watch as our neighbours shame us by making major strides in the realm of football.

“It seems Kenyans are being left behind as the rest of East Africa flexes its muscles,” I wrote. “A big part of the problem is that there are no friendly or competitive engagements lined up for the women’s national teams and so they remain idle as their talent wastes away,” I wrote as the Kilimanjaro Queens of Tanzania beat Burundi 3-2 to advance to the final stage of the U-20 qualifiers. Well, the Under 20 team didn’t make it to the next round, but turns out, their younger sisters are even better!

Just last month, the media in Tanzania was filled with concern over the country’s failure to put together a team to participate in “a tournament being staged next door,” which was the  Kip Keino Classic. Indeed, Tanzania has always struggled to raise teams for major tournaments, including the Olympics, but it seems they are carving out a niche for themselves in women’s football.

That match between Tanzania and Cameroon was easy to follow because it was streamed online. Every one of the players in the Serengeti Girls team played with passion, commitment and that added ingredient that has eluded us in the past – luck. Not just that. The current administration’s decision to establish and properly fund a women’s football league two years ago was an understated masterstroke, in my view.

How sad it is to think that it could have been us. It could have been us, Kenyans, singing victory songs on Sunday after qualifying for the age group world cup. It could have been us applauding loudly after trouncing the football powerhouse that produced talented African greats such as Samuel Etoo and Roger Milla. But it is almost one year since Kenya engaged in any football action worth talking about. We have chosen mediocrity, and these are the results – regression.

Whatever happens at the U-17 World Cup in in India come October, I will be cheering the Tanzanian girls and praying they excel where my country has failed. “Well,” said Julius Mnganga, a friend who I phoned immediately after the result. “We are now the giants of East Africa.” That statement hurt so bad because it was somewhat true.

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