Migne blasts unprofessional trio, calls for respect

Harambee Stars coach Sebastien Migne (right) shares a light moment with a member of the Ghanaian technical bench during their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Group "F" qualifier match at the Kasarani Stadium on September 8, 2018. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The Gor duo failed to report to camp last Sunday as their teammates made it to the first eleven
  • Tottenham HotSpurs midfielder Victor Wanyama didn’t honour the call up due to injury
  • His opposite number Kwesi Appiah was calm in the post-match ruing hard luck for the defeat

Harambee Stars coach Sebastian Migne cut a forlorn figure in his post match address despite making his touchline debut with a historic 1-0 win over Ghana in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group “F” qualifier played at a half-packed Kasarani stadium on Saturday.

The win revived Kenya’s hopes of qualifying for the continental showpiece after 14 years of waiting.

It was expected that the Frenchman would be over the moon during the post match presser basking in his first competitive win for Kenya barely four months into the job.

The contrary transpired in the press room! The Frenchman expressed his disappointment at the absence of captain Victor Wanyama and Gor Mahia duo of George “Blackberry” Odhiambo and goalkeeper Boniface Oluoch.

While the Tottenham Hotspurs midfielder didn’t honour the call up due to injury, the Gor duo failed to report to camp last Sunday as their teammates Francis Kahata, Philemon Otieno and Joash Onyango made the cut for the first eleven.

Migne further cast aspersions on Kenya’s hopes of becoming a football powerhouse at the back of poor preparations.

“I am very proud of my players, I like so much the spirit the boys gave, it wasn’t easy in four days to build a good spirit and improve a lot but they gave something incredible,” he said.

The 45-year-old added: “It was a missing of respect with this team during the week, when I saw Cameroon have a training in this field (Kasarani) and not us, who were at Monetary School, it’s not possible to work like that if we want to achieve at a high level, we are very far from this,” reiterated Migne.

“If you think because tonight we’ve beaten Ghana now you are on same level, it’s not true, it’s not the reality, I am not a liar and I am not happy at all.”

RESPECT

“I can speak of Blackberry (George Odhiambo) for example, in France two days ago, Jean-Kevin (Augustin), turns out for Leipzig rejected the U-21 call up, they asked Fifa to give him suspension, Hugo Lloris, world champion with France, is playing for Tottenham but was in Paris to check with the national team doctor if his injury was true or not,

“I have full confidence with Victor (Wanyama) but I need to check, if we want to achieve high level, we need to improve on a lot of things, I don’t want to speak about Bonny (Boniface Oluoch) but I think it was missing of respect, I want to keep calm, quiet but I need to think about the future,” he concluded.

His opposite number Kwesi Appiah was calm in the post-match ruing hard luck for the defeat.