Amrouche’s luck finally runs out as Stars tumble

Adel Amrouche’s troubled tenure as Harambee Stars coach came to a screeching halt on Sunday evening after the national team was knocked out of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers by tiny Lesotho.

The team’s technical bench was disbanded moments after the match that ended scoreless at the Nyayo National Stadium as Kenya exited the campaign on a 0-1 aggregate loss.

For Amrouche, the writing had been on the wall though and it had always been a matter of when the doors would be slammed on the 46-year-old Algeria-born Belgian.

Already serving a one-year ban by Caf, the events of Sunday evening only served as the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

Still, Amrouche will have nobody to blame for his unceremonious exit.

BARREN DRAW WITH BURUNDI

Even on a crucial match as Sunday’s, Amrouche got his tactics all wrong. Starting a jaded Dennis Oliech upfront, who joined the team’s camp barely 15 hours to kick off, and the club-less Edwin Lavatsa was a baffling selection by a bench that opted to stick with tried and tested names.

However, the gimmick backfired. Oliech fired blanks all evening while Lavatsa cut an out of sorts demeanour during the 50 minutes he was on the pitch as did the rest of the team.

With all due respect to the opposition, Kenya lost the tie not because Lesotho was that good, but because Harambee Stars were so poor.
And that spelt the end of Amrouche’s 18-month reign.

Why it took so long for football authorities in the country to crack the whip when it was clear to all that Amrouche’s technical bench had lost the plot begs questions.

The red flag was raised before the first leg in Maseru when Stars struggled to a barren draw with Burundi in a friendly match in Nairobi.

But Amrouche also had his days in the sun with Stars, the most memorable one being the 1-1 draw with the Super Eagles of Nigeria that he masterminded away in Calabar on his debut early last year.