Scoring goals is king for Keli and the KPL Golden Boot is his crown

PHOTO | FILE Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) striker Jacob Keli celebrates his goal against Ulinzi Stars in a Tusker Premier League encounter at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru on October 6, 2013. They drew 2-2. Keli emerged the top scorer in the top tier with 17 goals at the close of the season after netting a brace in Saturday's 2-0 win over relegated Karuturi Sport.

What you need to know:

  • Speedy and full of trickery, the friendly striker bursts into the limelight this season with spectacular goals including two on the final day to leave his deadly mark on all opposition
  • He says Kenya captain and Southampton midfielder, Victor Wanyama, is his idol. He appreciates in his words Wanyama’s “humble attitude”. A

The first thing you notice about Jacob Keli is the smile. It’s flashy. Have you seen the smile of Deputy President William Ruto that has graced many a media outlet this year? Now, imagine ten of those. Keli’s smile lights up a room.

He has been lighting up the Kenyan Premier League matches all season, and not with his smile. His goals. The diminutive KCB striker ended the season yesterday with 17 to clinch the 2013 KPL Golden Boot award.

The father of one, who scored his 15th goal of the campaign with a left-footed screamer last weekend when his team defeated champions Gor Mahia 2-0 at Kasarani, is clad in a fitting, faded blue jeans and white T-shirt emblazoned with the words “The Guitar” on the front.

His hair is kinky, a supposedly the latest trend for local footballers in this part of the world. His clothes are fitted on a middle-sized body that stands on some flat leather shoes. Save for the neatly protruding young beard, his youthful looks would make him easily fit in senior class in high school.

But how has he managed to send shivers down the spines of defenders and out-score everyone this season, given his small frame?

 “It’s been the best season for me; I have really enjoyed it,” he says as he flashes another smile. He has every reason to smile at this moment.

First, save for the Gor Mahia players who are currently toasting to their club’s first league title in 18 seasons, it will take some convincing for anyone to conclude that any other player outperformed him this term. Statistics don’t lie and 17 is the number.

His top-scoring act has brought recognition from the sporting masses, complete with new-found celebrity status.

“My phone can’t stop buzzing. My friends, fellow players, journalists, name them. Even on the streets when I’m going about my business, people stop to congratulate me or even just shake my hand. I am yet to rest since Sunday,” the player explains to me at the reception area of Nation Centre’s reception where am trying to process a visitor’s pass for him.

Understandably, he is basking in the limelight, savouring the attention and the praise.

His phone rings, again. “That is an official from another club. They want to meet me for talks,” he responds after the call to my raised eyebrows.

Then, without prompting he adds: “Make no mistake, none of these achievements has come by fluke. It has been all hard work through and through.”

At this point, I notice that the player speaks refined English, usually uncommon for players in the league. Much about that later.

Keli is motivated by his immediate family, and especially his 20-month-old son Remy, who has made it a ritual to wish daddy well by instinctively kissing his right boot before any game. Well, that was before the Gor match anyway.

“On the morning of that game, I held up my pair of boots and asked Remy to kiss them for me as has been the norm all season. To my utter surprise, he kissed my left boot - for the first ever time. I had to ask "are you sure son?’”

SCORED HIS FIRST GOAL

As it turned out, Remy was sure. During the game, Keli scored his first ever goal with his left foot, a screaming swerve that found its way to the top of the net!

“I was also inspired by my colleagues who won accolades during the Kenya Premier League Awards last December. I was reading the Daily Nation and the sports pages were littered with photos of my colleagues holding trophies and smiling, obviously with some fat cheques safely tucked in their pockets,” the player recalls.

“There and then I decided to do something to ensure that I am among the best players this season. I embarked on a personal training regime six weeks before the 2013 season commenced. I bought a football and did my juggling at some ground near my home. I jogged every morning to keep fit.

“As it turned out, my team appointed a new coach (Juma Abdalla) who had confidence in me. He’d sometimes pull me aside and say ‘please tell me what you want. I am banking on you. You love the ball released to quicker. I will instruct the midfielders to do that.’ At that point I really felt appreciated, something that motivated me to work harder, in order to reciprocate.

“I arrived for training 30 minutes earlier than my teammates. I did my own sessions and practised shooting. The club had also hired a psychologist, who talked to me and made me brave enough.

"I have to confess that initially I was very weak mentally, but this season even when things didn’t go well for me, I continued working hard,” the player who has scored 16 goals in 30 games, a ratio of one goal in every two games."

BACKGROUD

How did he become the league’s most prolific striker?

The player believes he was born to play football. That, however, doesn’t mean the journey to his current state has been rosy.

“My journey has been like ascending a staircase, not an escalator,” he observes, and for the first time, the easy, instant smile is replaced by a thoughtful.

He describes why football - the most popular sport in Kenya - has yet to fulfil its potential.

The second born in a family of four, Keli grew up in a household where education was given priority over extracurricular activities. His dad, a secondary school teacher and later farm manager, would hear nothing about the football dream his son harboured.

“I attended Nairobi Primary and later Lukenya School where I developed the habit of playing football well past the required times. I later joined Utumishi Academy in Gilgil where my passion for watching and playing football flourished. I played and captained the school team but at that time not much emphasis was put on sports by the school administration.”

And the lack of support it seems haunted the then teenage player to his home.

“I remember once my dad burnt a pair of playing boots I had bought for myself. That really hurt me, but I never gave up. I also lacked the basic training facilities. The first time I trained with cones or under a professional coach was after I finished secondary school education.”

It makes me wonder how different the standards of football would be if the likes of the young Keli were nurtured from a tender age, and the Government invested in training and deploying teachers to guide teenage students in their careers.

But things are now bright for him. For starters, he has the best possible support. “What am happy about now is that my father and family are my biggest fans. Dad calls me to congratulate me whenever I score, I am glad to have this support. My dream is to build my parents a home from my football proceeds,” Keli continues.

While the senior Keli might have tried everything to ensure his son succeeds in his education and life, including enrolling him at university, but it’s ironical that this move played a pivotal role in the player’s football career.

“Upon completion of my secondary education, I started training with a local team then known as Sacramento, before my dad immediately enrolled me at Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) for a pre-university course.

“But one evening while on my way home from college, I noticed a group of players playing football at the KCB grounds in Ruaraka. On inquiring, I learnt that KCB FC was holding trials. I immediately got the consent from the club selectors to join in the training and later, a practice match in which I scored four goals.”

That performance earned Keli his first professional contract the following day, temporarily suspending his studies at JKUAT.

What followed was an ordinary 2008 season with the team. But still the player seemed to have done enough to impress coach Robert Matano who lured him to Sofapaka the following season. He was to help the club win their first and only league title so far, in 2009.

Up next for Keli was a stint at Mathare United before he found his way back to KCB at the start of the 2012 league campaign.

Keli is happy to celebrate his club’s best ever finish in the league, position four, if only if, to disapprove the critics.

The club has earned the pace-setters tag in previous campaigns, after failing to maintain their top league status acquired at the start of each campaign.

“Most of us were irritated by the pace-setters tag which the media had put on us. At some point after the start of the season, we met as a team resolved to silence the skeptics.  The result has been evident in the performances of my teammates, including Brian Osumba, Clifford Aluwanga, Kevin Omondi ‘Gazza’ Sammy Okinda and Tommy Odhiambo. If we can maintain the core of this team, we definitely have a chance of winning win the championship next season.”

BIG QUESTION

The million-dollar question now is whether he plans to remain at the club next season. This comes amidst rumors that Keli - whose contract with KCB expires in December - is sitting on several offers from three top teams in the country, who are intent or acquiring his services ahead of next season.

One club in particular reportedly handed him a blank paper leaf and told him to write all his demands without limiting himself before promising to get back to him for negotiations.
In addition, there is also interest from two top Tanzanian teams, a club from the Seychelles, and another one in Asia.

“I won’t rush things” Keli says thoughtfully. “I appreciate the offers on the table and I will consider each one of them before announcing my next move.”

On the challenges facing Kenya Premier League players, Keli talks of low or delayed payment to players as well as lack of appreciation from employers who sack players at will owing to injury or a dip in form despite the contractual agreement.

“The Players Welfare Association should come in and help,” he says.

Regarding the national team fortunes, the player who earned his first call-up this year and was in the squad that held Nigeria to a 1-1 draw away in Calabar in a 2014 World Cup qualifier, thinks the team handlers need to boost the morale in camp, by rewarding the team and increasing the allowances.

The player, who is almost certain to make the Harambee Stars squad ahead of the upcoming Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) Senior Challenge Cup, adds that proper planning will be key to improving the team’s performance.

He says Kenya captain and Southampton midfielder, Victor Wanyama, is his idol. He appreciates in his words Wanyama’s “humble attitude”.

He may be a KCB faithful but he confesses his love for English Premiership giants Chelsea. Playing in that league is a dream of many top players in the world and he has given that a thought. But for now, he wants to lap in all the recognition that come with being the worst nightmare of defenders. A goal with a smile. KPL’s official hit man of 2013.