‘Ghost’ to head national U-17 football team selection panel
What you need to know:
- At the same time, Mulee has urged local football clubs to send their scouts to Kakamega to identify the talent that will be on display.
- “We are sure that the very best talent of players under the age of 17 years will be at the national finals. We are therefore going to put together a team that should win the continental trophy for the first time,” Mulee told Daily Nation Sport.
Former Harambee Stars coach Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee will for the fourth year running lead a panel of four coaches which will select the national under-17 team that will represent Kenya at this year’s Airtel Rising Stars football tournament in Gabon.
Mulee (left) will team up with former international Anthony “Ofaque” Okumu, the national women team coach Fred Serenge and Kakamega Homeboyz tactician Hezron Nyabinge to scout for talent at the Airtel Rising Stars Term 2B national finals in Kakamega next week.
Besides selecting the boys’ and girls’ national teams, the panel will also pick outstanding players who will attend the Airtel Africa coaching clinics that will be conducted by coaches from English Premier League giants Manchester United.
IDENTIFY TALENT
At the same time, Mulee has urged local football clubs to send their scouts to Kakamega to identify the talent that will be on display.
“The national school games have in the past provided us a platform for picking our national age category teams. As a result, competition for places in the national under-17 teams has increased,” Mulee said. Renowned Kenya international players such as Dennis Oliech, MacDonald Mariga and Patrick Oboya all emerged from the national school games.
In a departure from last year when Kenya was represented by Upper Hill and Olympic Secondary School, this year the country will be represented by a select team.
“We are sure that the very best talent of players under the age of 17 years will be at the national finals. We are therefore going to put together a team that should win the continental trophy for the first time,” Mulee told Daily Nation Sport.
Last year Olympic Girls lost in the finals in Nigeria while Upper Hill School lost in the semis.
Last year’s national finals held in Embu saw the selection of four students - Gerald John Oketch (Upper Hill School), Mwanahalima Adam Jereko (St John’s Kaloleni), Owuor Lily Awuor (Olympic High) and Ibrahim Mohamed (Kathungi Secondary) - to attend Mancheter United’s football clinic in Tanzania.
Upper Hill and Olympic Girls were both knocked out of his year’s games at the regional stage. The Africa championships will be held in Gabon from August 20- to 25.
