 Good afternoon and welcome back to the program. Touchline is the show on Y254, fantastic Saturday afternoon. It is, remember, round of 16 is what we are speaking about as far as African cup of nation is concerned. 32nd edition currently underway in Egypt live and exclusive on KBC Channel 1. And right now we're going to delve into what has been happening, especially with focus on the national team around the stars elimination from the championship. At the group stage, the same thing that happened 15 years down the line in 2000 and found at the tutelage of Jacob Ghostem. Steve Votien is joining me, the former gunmaia, a fullback. How have you been, Steve? I've been very okay and a thank God for everything. What do you think about the stars performance? Was it impressive? Was it under performance? Was it, did it surpass your expectation? As Kenyans, we expected a lot from our national team as far as the preparation was concerned. But they did not live up to the expectation. They didn't give us what we were expecting from the national team after the preparation and after taking that training camp in France, which for me, I think that it was a little too late because when you look at it that the tournament is being held up in Africa, then you go to Europe. I think those two don't marry each other. Do you think climatic changes and situations played in the performance of the national team because there are those who think that Kenya ought to have done to mid-nest countries and so that acclimatization is not a concern? What do you think yourself? Well, I think some of them, because if we watched most of the teams, most of them went to Qatar, I mean, some even camping in Morocco, some in Egypt, we saw some in Dubai. I think we actually donated the train to camp in Europe. And I think if you compare the weather in France and the weather in France and the weather in Egypt is totally different. At some point, we even saw the boys training with gloves, meaning it was a bit too cold for them. So I think that change of weather probably might have affected them. So to me, I think, okay, you never know why they took that camp for me, but I think some might have affected them also. Rendo Ben, it seems like you have a counter-opinion. Yeah, of course, of course. What they were reading from the same script was over. I really don't think that would have really affected the team. It's only that we were coming into this competition with a very, very young team. And, see, looking at our group, we were facing some of the big, big boys, heavyweights of African football in Algerian Senegal. Although the game against Senegal may be in the first half, we tried to put them out, and we were successful. Our goalkeeper saving that penalty from Sadio Mane. But going to Europe, okay, I think he might have a point that it was far away as far as the location is concerned. But whether ways, I think this will really normally affect the people who are running the long-distance races, maybe. But for footballers, I think, most of, a good junk of the players, a good number of the players that played in the Afghan have played in the European leagues and they were good to go in the showpiece and some of them are still participating, including the top scorer of the tournament right now in Sadio Mane. But, friendly, we must remember ourselves that this is the reason why some of these not-African clubs, when they are playing maybe in the calf confederation, calf or maybe in the Champions League, maybe when they are playing in Kenya, they normally come like a week before, just to dramatize. So I think it's a very key thing because, you know, we had five days in Egypt before we started. Five days is too little, too little for it. I think we had a similar problem when I was still playing for Gormaya, we were playing in the confederation camp, we staged our camp in Naivasha, it was very cold and Nairobi was very hot. So you see those two things before you come and tackle the match, you actually need to be in an environment whereby the weather and the system go hand in hand. So for us we came like a day before because we were playing Rwanda APR here, it was on a Sunday, so we came on a Sunday evening and then the match was the following day. It really affected us because you'll find a station whereby for you to be able to cope up with the weather and actually live up to the expectation, it is something of a challenge. So let us also face the reality that going to France was never the idea, we never will disagree to agree. Going to France was never the idea because I expected the national team to take the same, to go to a place that was at the same level with Egypt because the weather was very unfriendly. But I think the choice of arriving at France as their camping destination I think was agreed upon after the Frenchman himself and practitioners Sebastian Minyi visited France considering his rapport with the country is familiar to the nation outskirts and he thought it would be wise for them to camp in France. So I don't know, there has been disagreements here and there. I think it's just an excuse. We know what you're trying to say. It's just an excuse because we performed very well coming up against the Tanzanians. It's only that we had the big boys. Let's take it in that we were facing the big boys. Even if we come in Egypt itself, we were going against an Algerian side that had the rights of maresi and going up against Senegal that is now boasting of the top score of the shop is so far. We tried our best. I have a few friends of mine, generalistic friends who are in Egypt for the coverage of the continental shop and I have spoken to them and they have given me you know, counter opinion with regards to what majority of Kenyans are thinking over selection. You see, there have been a lot of people thinking that president of football Kenyans federation Nick Muendwa is influencing the selection of the national team but I am reliably informed that Sebastian Minyi is a man who has stamped authority and he says that his decision is final he is a man who really gets compromised. I don't know. Let's talk about the selection criteria of the national team Steve Otieno. When the 27 months quod was named by coach there were a lot of reactions especially on social media platform. Something that a few players made the cut because of influence from the executive. I was part and parcel of that complaining team I think of the captain of the criticism team. In a national team selection we actually need to have a panel of coaches whereby we don't just rely on one coach on the head coach alone because to me I actually feel that there were some influential decision making whereby the coach, the death cave president must have played a hand in it because when you look at it very well how on earth do you leave a top scorer in Zambia in the name of Jesse Were leave Alan Wanga where were we expecting the goals to come from My midfielder Maestro, Tediakum he has been in an outstanding form both in Zambia and when he was being in Zesco United and you know the coach uses him as a stopper to some extent so to me I feel that the selection was not done fairly there must have been a little bit hiccups here and there in terms of selection and even during our fielding there was some gray areas let us just agree to disagree there were some gray areas because we all saw everything that happened it was not something that I was done secretly it was done in an open area whereby team selection people complained we cannot have a situation whereby more than half Kenyans complain about the selection then we put it under the carpet it cannot happen I think if the selection complains then my friend Ronald Okotia would have been the first person to complain because he was a striker he did not forget the place the national team around the stars but let's talk about the selection criteria and let's be objective Nick Mwendo is my friend and I criticize him objectively I am sure he is watching whether he is watching or not we have to be objective and criticize where necessary let's talk about the players who excluded from the squad and the impact they would have made should they have been included Yesewere and Alan Wanga great strikers for me they were pair of attackers but which impact would they have brought in the team should they have gotten the nod to be included we have to speak the truth they are very experienced strikers in the continental level these are guys who played at the highest level in terms of maybe after this league and you've seen maybe for example Yesewere he's been one of the best players in Zesco he's really celebrated he's really celebrated in Zambia more than even he's celebrating here in Kenya so I think his omission to me was actually a surprise because I expected though for him to make the cut and also for Alan Wanga basically being the top scorer in the league definitely you stand a very good chance of making it to the national team but having said that I can also say that the boss is always right at the end of the day whether the boss is wrong whether you feel the boss is wrong the boss is always right at the end of the day and for Kutmini if you look at the way he likes his team to play I mean he likes to he really likes players who use a lot of maybe let me say power and pace and in one of his press conference he said that maybe Yesewere does like to track back a bit and that's why he maybe preferred the likes of John Avire actually my teammate and we saw what John Avire could do so I think it also depends the way the coach is filling his team the tactics of the team and probably you find that maybe the way the coach plays you use certain tactics maybe don't really match well with certain players so to me well the fans can say maybe the feeling was questionable or maybe the selection was questionable but to me at the end of the day you know the boss is always right whether you make some bad decisions or wrong he is always right we agree with him that the boss is always right the same way 100% referee's confusion is final exactly I totally agree with the coach because this is a coach this is a coach that is always in training Alan Wanga was in the in the first list for the coach but actually 30 months code exactly the coach gave the reasons why he dropped him and I think we can all agree that they are valid because you can't miss training sessions I don't know if you were seeing the truth or not but you can't miss training sessions and expect the coach to pick you even if you are the top scorer in the country because he did not name Jesse Wehring the squad he gave a good reason why he was choosing Alan Wanga and not Jesse Wehring he said ok we have the top you are asking me about the top scorer in the Samyan league but I have the top scorer in the Kenyan league in my squad actually and according to him Kenyan Premier League is lucrative then exactly and I don't think maybe it's time maybe we should question is maybe his love or his love or hate was the Samyan league because I think one thing has been common I mean we saw him living out in Yakumu I mean one of the best in the nation of the country we saw him living out Jesse Wehring and they mentioned and even David Owino and even David Owino hasn't really played much and I mean the indication that he would have also been left out should Joa Shonyango and Mandela was fit so I think maybe probably it's also his attitude plus the Samyan league and maybe this question maybe I'm asking myself is it that the work rate in the nation the Samyan league is a little bit down according to his expectations maybe because the reason he said that as Okota has said is that Jesse Wehring was not putting in that work rate that he wanted and Avere was putting it in as he expected so he opted to to take the young man Matib, Matib if you are coaching what you have done you play you pick me as per your tactics you pick Ronaldo Koth because because he's good generally but maybe he's not playing per your tactics and formation Mr. Maxwell let us just face the ball by its heart definitely we are trying to divert to the young man and that's exactly what my two brothers have done they've taken sides they've taken sides it reaches a point whereby the nation is bigger than is bigger than an individual and in case of any differences we have between me and you Maxwell it should not cost the national team definitely that's absolutely true it should not cost the national team one we need to look at things the other way we need to look at the bigger picture the bigger picture was this Jesse Wehring is a fantastic player let us all agree that that one is absolutely correct Jesse Wehring is a fantastic player he's somebody who can give you goals any time you want him because of his work rate so it was a matter of the coach to fine tune him bring him to his system not make decisions out of emotions emotions because even in your own house you have kids who who do their own things do you exclude them? do you exclude them? you bring them into your system so it's the same way that the coach should have done bring Jesse Wehring sit with Jesse Wehring down and tell him this is the way to go about it we need to play this way you need to play according to our system not according to your system because somebody who is banging in goals so why would we exclude him there are so many valid reasons that we need to balance so this is a question of balancing the decision not taking the size and looking at a coach in a different way look at a coach in his positive ways what can a coach offer us beside the negativity so that is the strongest point that the coach should have seen in Jesse Wehring and just including him in the last 30 players also questions are being asked why maybe Kairida that strike have not been used that is a big question it's a big question because there is no way you can carry maybe strike us in maybe at the efforts of maybe someone like Jesse Wehring or Alan Nwanga and then you fail to fail them so again those sorts of questions I think maybe as Max was saying is that the state of play that the coach wanted to use is maybe as I talked earlier this is a game against Algeria and against Senegal there are not games that we would go out and all strike it's a strategy and you meet people and all that I think that's why he opted to have Olunga as the loan striker yes the loan striker but do you think it helped the team because he was in isolation up front exactly against the game against Senegal actually the first first up really panned out well because Olunga was left up front alone and maybe what he was really trying to look is for the loan balls and maybe try to use the space and maybe we maybe have nicked in a goal or two what we really needed in that game is just have the midfield and have a good defense and stay disciplined we saw that discipline discipline really costed us in the second half we gave a penalty we gave a very easy goal very easy goals maybe the legs maybe also got tired as we started the second half because to record making beers in the first half I think that's the idea that Trumini was like why should I carry you carry Aranguanga carry Olunga and then maybe Jesse Wery definitely because of the tactics the tactical approach that you use so maybe it's easier to go with other players because of the tactics so we've handled two critical areas that is camping and selection and we're going to speak about another aspect as well as the national team is concerned what Kenyans have been questioning some of which I agree with some of which I don't agree and it has to be objective and impartiality the players that coach carried to Egypt for the continental show piece and the fielding that's another aspect do you think it was appropriate it was not appropriate because looking at the way we were playing our system our system did not match our performance were we too defensive I can say that we didn't have a team play we didn't have a team play we didn't have a system and then whenever we were starting a move we didn't have any pattern when we were playing we didn't have any purpose we didn't have the drive force generally we didn't have a system that one I can tell you because when you look at it I didn't see any situation whereby we started hitting the ball around and then moving and then trying to engage a different gear whenever we reached the generally you're saying we lacked character power and tactically we also not fit that one I can tell you free of charge we're not fit tactically because when you look at it our system I think we were playing 4 4 3 3 were we playing 4 3 3 with the Lunga as the launch striker there was no backup whenever Lunga hit the ball we were still lagging behind so this is something that we had to push as a team attack as a team defend as a team so that mechanism I didn't see it I didn't see anything that would actually tell us that we were a threat we were never a threat at some point you'll find that game situation varies from a higher gear to a lower gear so we didn't have that change of system we didn't have it at all Steve generally from your own observation about the tournament what do you think about the championship so far has it been exciting has it been excellent we can say that it has been electrifying not just exciting electrifying finding teams like Madagascar leading in their group and up to date those are some of the things that make us know that we're enjoying the football in it those errors of dominance errors of dominance is now Lunga whereby we used to know that it's super eagles intermitable lions that pattern now monotony has now changed and that's now where we come to enjoy football now whereby we have the underdogs taking charge and that brings us to the question of is African cup of nations getting more ignited or it has lost the quality because there are those people who are saying that Afkan has lost that oomf because the teams that used to be in the knowledge of public domain are performing puwali while the underdogs now are coming on board while there are those who are arguing that the tournament now is getting much spice and ingredients going forward because the minus are rising to the occasion and performing very well and I'll definitely agree that the guys who are saying the tournament is getting spicy because it only shows that our football is growing we no longer have the big boys the big boys being the favourites that's why we are seeing the likes of Madagascar making their fast they are the debitants in the tournament debitants in the tournament going ahead to beat the likes of super eagles and even topping their group I mean nobody expected them to pull such a such a huge fit despite being knocked out of the tournament playing some very beautiful football so it only shows that our football is growing and that's what you want to see that is the North African teams the North African national teams I mean those are the dominant teams in this tournament and I won't be surprised if maybe we will even see a North African final because I mean they really learned how to the dynamics of African football were and I think they are so tactical they are so technically brilliant and even though we are saying our football is improving but I mean the guys who are better need to get better the likes of Egypt the likes of Algeria the likes of maybe even though they were eliminated but we could see that they are those flashes of brilliance so to me our football is improving and we can hope that we can get better I can agree with both Steve and Akot because as they are saying the days of saying that it's either coming they are long gone they are long gone I was really impressed by the Morocco-Benin game yesterday because we saw a team that was third placed eliminating a table top of the round of 16 so as the days are going by the African football is improving and we are seeing more players coming out to showcase their skills because right now who knew Denys Onyango people are now talking of Denys Onyango the best goalkeepers in the continent including Matasi so as days are going by things are getting better for the African football and we should really hope for better in the future we should really hope for the better in the future of course we are going to take a short break and when we come next we will be talking about the fixtures for this particular the previous of the round of 16 and the international football in general European transfers football club women's world cup underway the finals this particular weekend and even Kopa America upsets Argentina being eliminated by their acrivals Brazil that forms the basis of the fund zone just in a few minutes from now as we speak don't go away stay tuned up next is the highlights of Argentina against Brazil in the Kopa America