Like Man Utd, opposition seems to be preparing for poll defeat

Nasa flagbearer Raila Odinga speaks at ACK St Stephens Cathedral Church in Kisumu on May 21, 2017. Nasa is busy preaching to the converted instead of seeking to bring new faces into the fold. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The constellation of the opposition stars grouped under Nasa should on balance give the Jubilee team a mighty scare.
  • They claim to command a 10-million-strong vote, but that seems to be a fantasy figure plucked out of thin air.

As Manchester United take on Ajax Amsterdam for the Europa League trophy on Wednesday night, fans of the English football giants will be very apprehensive.

Under ordinary circumstances, all the money would be on United to give the Dutch champions a proper thrashing.

After all, they approach the final with a proud history as the most successful team in the English Premier League.

MAN UTD STRENGTH
Ajax is a team with a great history, too, but the reality is that it now plays in a Dutch League that has been reduced to a nursery system for grooming young players for the top tier European leagues.

The sheer resources available at United, including a vastly experienced squad composed of some of the best players money can buy, as well as an emerging crop of exciting home-bred youngsters, should logically be much too powerful for the Dutch tyros.

But there is no logic in some things.

In football, as in life, you must have the desire to win.

You must have the heart and passion to aim for nothing less, but to be the best.

FIGHTING SPIRIT
This Manchester United team does not have the winning mentality.

Once the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson retired as the manager four years ago, the once great team lost its fighting spirit, and not even the arrival of the fabled Portuguese Jose Mourihno, the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’, has managed to turn things around.

Sometimes one can’t help comparing United’s decline after Sir Alex left to that faced by our former ruling and Independence party, Kanu, following the retirement of President Daniel arap Moi, a once powerful institution reduced to a shell of its former self.

PREPARING FOR DEFEAT
But at least in President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, the children and disciples of Kanu continue to rule under the Jubilee flag.

At United, the arrival of Mourihno was supposed to reverse the rot in the team, but the manager who achieved so much success with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid was no longer a winner.

Everything he has done in his first season has indicated not a man going out to win, but one taking the field to, at best, avoid defeat.

And in many instances, one preparing for defeat rather than planning for victory.

QUEST FOR TROPHY
Just a few weeks ago, United had jumped one place up from their customary sixth place this season, but more importantly had a couple of games in hand over the teams ahead of them, placing them in the driving seat to at a last-top-four finish.

Then Mourihno gave up the chase.

A team that usually is fighting for the English crown decided that chasing fourth place, and qualification for the European Champions’ League, was a bit too much.

He decided to aim for the Champions’ League through the backdoor of the minor Europa Cup, but it should be clear now going by the sterile performances seen on the route to the final that defeating Ajax cannot be a foregone conclusion.

WINNING MENTALITY

The number of superstars in a team means nothing if they do not have a winning mentality and if they approach every contest preparing for defeat; whining about an uneven playing field and biased officials.

Sounds familiar? The constellation of the opposition stars grouped under the National Super Alliance (Nasa), should on balance give the Jubilee team a mighty scare.
Nasa Presidential flagbearer Raila Odinga and running mate Kalonzo Musyoka should at their second joint attempt, and backed by a stellar supporting cast, have refined their strategies to aim for victory.

But they seem to be planning for defeat, forever whining and complaining instead of giving hope to their supporters.

GET NEW SUPPORTERS
They claim to command a 10-million-strong vote, but that seems to be a fantasy figure plucked out of thin air.

Instead of seriously raiding the Jubilee Party strongholds and swing regions, they seem to have given up on expanding their reach.

While it should be obvious that every single vote counts, Nasa seems to be treating large parts of the country with contempt, not even bothering to field candidates for governor, Member of Parliament and the other seats where their flag badly needs to be shown.

The alliance is, instead, busy preaching to the converted instead of seeking to bring new faces into the fold.

That is not the way to plan for victory.

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @MachariaGaitho