HARAMBEE STARS LEAVE FOR LESOTHO

IMAGE: MICHEZO AFRICA

The Kenya football national team will be leaving the country today ahead of their African Cup Of Nations (AFCON)qualifiers clash against Lesotho.
The stars will be keen on coming out of the clash with a victory to keep their hopes of qualifying for AFCON alive.
However, they will have to go into the match without their first choice goalkeeper Arnold Origi, this prooving to be a major blow to the Stars.
Origi, who plies his trade in Norway for Lilestrom confirmed his unavailability for the Harambee Stars as he would be engaged in club duty playing against Viikings on Sunday; the day Lesotho hosts Kenya in Maseru. 
Arnold Origi, son of Kenyan legend Austin Makamu Oduor and a cousin of Belgian Divock Origi who recently signed for Liverpool, also missed the first leg of the first preliminary round which Kenya won 1-0 to set up the fixture against Lesotho.
Despite this, the Star should not be worried as thing look good for them:
Firstly, they have had a good away record under Coach Adel Amrouche.
Then of course have the brothers, Victor and MacDonald. They both have experience of playing at the highest possible level.
And also not to mention the Stars's higher ranking.
We are hopeful for a good result.

AND THE LOSER IS...

IMAGE :FIFA

FIFA gave football fans the chance to vote for their  favourite slogans that would be seen on the flanks of every bus of teams in the World Cup.

Of course, the options given by FIFA were all laughably bad, and some countries will be furious over their “official” team motto. Who was dealt the worst ones of them all? Whose are actually not embarrassing? 

Here is a list of some of the slogans that fans thought were not so 'brainy':

10. Russia

"No one can catch us."

DISSAPOINTING!

9. Greece 

"Heroes play like Greeks." 

Did ya’ll see Hercules parking buses back in the day? Didn’t think so.

8. Nigeria

"Only together we can win."

Isn't it too obvious...eleven player on each side!

7. Costa Rica

"My passion is football, my strength is my people, my pride is Costa Rica."

Bla...Bla...Bla... ever heard of 'precise and to the point' when it comes to a motto!?

T-6. Argentina

"Not just a team, we are a country."

...and which team is'nt?

T-6 Colombia 

"Here travels a nation, not just a team!"

Told ya, Argentina.

5. South Korea

"Enjoy it, Reds!"

Yup! Enjoy that two-week vacation in Brazil. See you soon!

4. Netherlands

"Real men wear orange."

They totally stole this from Syracuse University. We don’t condone plagiarism here.

3. Chile

"Chi chi chi! Le le le! Go Chile."

 Yes Yes! Go, Go Chile...go back home!

2. Switzerland 

“Final stop: 07-13-14 Maracana!” 

This is one is even more hilarious than Chile’s.

1. Australia

“Socceroos: hopping our way into history!”

We have a winner, um, loser. Hopping your way into history… as a footnote in yet another World Cup tournament. This time as the team with the cheesiest, lamest team bus slogan.

END OF THE ROAD FOR LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI

Luiz Felipe Scolari is no longer Brazil's national team coach, this according to the country's football federation (CBF).

Scolari, 65, won the tournament in 2002 but the hosts could only finish fourth at this year's event.
Brazil were thrashed 7-1 by Germany in the semi-finals then lost 3-0 to the Netherlands in the play-off.
Scolari's contract was set to expire after the tournament, but the CBF vice president Marco Polo del Nero last week offered the manager his full backing following the humiliating last-four defeat by Germany. However, Scolari himself had offered no assurances about his position in the wake of what he called "the worst day of my life".

Scolari first took over the Brazil side in 2001 and guided them to World Cup success a year later, beating Germany 2-0 in the 2002 final in Yokohama, Japan.

But after spells in charge of Portugal, Premier League side Chelsea, Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan and Brazilian club Palmeiras, he resumed control of the national team in 2012.
Brazil hosted and won the Confederations Cup in 2013, beating Spain 3-0 in the final, and were favourites to win a sixth World Cup.
They finished top of their group after two wins and a draw from their three matches, before edging past Chile on penalties in the last 16.
They beat Colombia 2-1 in the quarter-finals, but lost top goalscorer Neymar to a spine injury and captain Thiago Silva to suspension.
In the semi-final, Brazil were 5-0 down to Joachim Low's Germany after only 29 minutes, before losing 7-1 - their joint-heaviest loss ever and first home competitive defeat for 39 years.

Those expected to be in contention for the full-time job include former Corinthians boss Tite, Muricy Ramalho of Sao Paulo and ex-Brazil boss Vanderlei Luxemburgo - all of whom were in the running after Scolari's predecessor, Mano Menezes, was sacked.

KENYA'S RUGBY 15s SIDE NOT GOING TO ENGLAND

It was a sad day for the Kenya rugby 15s team on Sunday as they lost to Zimbabwe’s 15s side.

This defeat shattered dreams of the Kenyan side who had an impressive start in the tournament.

The Kenyans started on a high as they beat one of the tournament’s favorites Namibia in an emphatic 29-22 victory. 

They followed through with this commendable performance by hammering the host Madagascar 34-0.

The Kenyan head coach Jerome Parwaater fielded two different sides in their first two fixtures in an attempt to keep the players fresh.

With these performances, Kenya looked to be on their way to another African title but this would not be the case.

Kenya were the defending African champions and came into the tournament hopeful of retaining their title but their last game against Zimbabwe was anything but impressive.

The Kenyan side only needed a draw but their dismal performance against the Zimbabweans saw them lose 27-10.

Jerome’s side looked vulnerable from the start of the match and therefore a loss seemed inevitable.

The tournament-Confederation of African Rugby also doubles as the World Cup qualifier. 

It saw teams competing so as to be Africa’s representative in the biggest rugby stage, the World Cup in 2015 where this time England are the host.

The Kenyan side will now have to wait for another five years before they can try their luck in the biggest rugby stage.

MERU SEVENS

Masaku Sevens is arguably one of the biggest rugby tournaments in the country and undoubtabley the biggest in Machakos County. 

The Machakos stadium, also known as Kenyatta stadium playing host this year and as expected  the stadium was packed with fans from all over the country looking forward to an action filled event.

Now this year, Meru county have decided they will not be left out, and so the county has organized their own Sevens tournament dubbed Meru sevens, that is to kick off from 5^th July to 6^th.

This is yet again another boost for sports in Meru County as Tusker F.C relocated and is using Meru’s refurbished Kinoru Stadium as their home ground for their Kenya Premier League matches.

By coming up with such a tournament, Meru County are looking forward to making Meru a rugby hub and a home for nurturing the county’s young talented players.

This event would be run by the Rugby Federation of Kenya and coordinated by the Meru County Focus Group (MCFG).

However, to be able to match up to Masaku Sevens, Meru Sevens organizers will have to do much more as they have done very little to publicize the tournament.

Also the idea of including former rugby national team coach Benjamin Anyimba to the organizational team has been argued by some as not such a good idea because of Anyimba’s position as tournament director for Masaku Sevens.

16 teams are expected to participate in the tournament from various parts of the country and outside, both professional and amateur club sides.

HARAMBEE STARS SMILING TO THE BANK

Good news yet again for the Harambee Stars, this time in the form of a year-long sponsorship worth 250 million shillings for the next financial year. 

This is all thanks again to the East African Breweries Limited  (EABL), the sponsors who announced the money will be released at the beginning of the next financial year; July 1, 2014.

This came after EABL added 40,000 USD sponsorship to the 120,000 USD offered by the President Uhuru Kenyatta, for their trip to Brazil.

This is really a good gesture by EABL as they have continuously shown their support towards Kenyan football.

In trying to ensure that the funds are well used to the interest of the Stars, EABL are giving the Harambee Stars Management Board (HSMB) the task of handling this fund and not Football Kenya Federation (FKF). The HSMB will be a representative of FKF.

This fund is a great improvement from the previous sponsorship of 110 million Kenya Shillings in 2012 that was to see the stars through three years.

EABL are also planning to follow through by launching a campaign to rally Kenyans around football activities.

This move by EABL should be an encouragement to other corporations to support football in the country and by extension the Stars who are the beneficiaries.