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The former Gor Mahia defender nearly made Harambee Stars qualify for the 2012 AFCON as head coach.
KCB FC head coach Zedekiah Zico Otieno has reminisced about his time at the helm of Harambee Stars in 2011 when Kenya narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Zico was given the job on an interim basis after the side parted ways with Twahir Muhiddin and was tasked with helping the country qualify for its then first AFCON since 2004.
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05:00 - 13.06.2023
FOOTBALL: Zedekiah 'Zico' Otieno explains how Harambee Stars can become a mainstay at international tournaments
The former Harambee Stars player and coach explains how Kenya can qualify for international tournaments regularly.
Kenya played Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Migingo Derby rivals Uganda in their group. Stars had amassed four points, having drawn with Uganda and beaten Guinea Bissau, before Zico took charge of the team against Angola.
Kenya came from behind to beat Angola 2-1, through goals from Jamal Mohamed and MacDonald Mariga in stoppage time.
“It is one of my best games as a coach,” he said. “Tactically we got it right and the organization was also top,” he added.
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17:26 - 19.06.2023
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The defender joined AIK back in January 2020 and has scored 13 goals and three assists in 86 games.
“When I was given the job as head coach, we played Angola here (at Nyayo Stadium Nairobi), we won against a strong Angola side and I remember Mariga scoring the winning goal. I can remember Jamal and Mariga scoring for us.”
Angola beat Kenya 1-0 away, before they bounced back to winning ways against Guinea-Bissau, again in a similar fashion by coming back from a goal down to beat Bissau 2-1 through goals from John Barasa and Dennis Oliech.
This left the group wide open, as Angola and Uganda topped the group with points, while Kenya had 7 points. Had Kenya beaten Uganda away and Angola got beaten by Guinea Bissau, Kenya would have qualified, although their fate was not in their hands anymore.
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08:00 - 21.06.2023
FKFPL: ‘It was like going from grass to grace’ - Daniel Sakari shares journey from leisure football at the university to being a Harambee Stars regular
The Kenyan international right was playing rugby from 2013-2016 , but this is how he ended up playing football.
“Jeff Koinange invited me on the bench at Norfolk Hotel and I can remember telling him that if it meant qualifying for the Cup of Nations by beating Uganda at Namboole, we would have beaten them, and the day came.
“First, nobody knew we were in contention by the time we were playing that match. If we were to beat Uganda and Angola lost to Guinea-Bissau, we would have participated in that competition.
“I took the boys to Mumias for camping in order to help them acclimatize to the Kampala weather given it always rains in the afternoon. I wanted them to also avoid distractions from Nairobi. We did a good job in camp and went to Kampala with everyone knowing what he was supposed to do, and it worked.
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17:00 - 20.06.2023
FOOTBALL CAF, Kenya pull off deal that holds promise for the EAC Pamoja bid
Sources within the Benin FA have revealed that fruitful discussions between CAF and the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) have led to Nairobi being selected as the replacement host.
“At some point, Dennis (Oliech) found himself on a one on one with his namesake Dennis Onyango and he blew the ball up. If we had scored, we could have won the game, and so we drew.
“Everyone was all like “Ooh, Kenya imeharibia Uganda (Kenya has ruined things for Uganda) but it is not about that. We also actually had a chance of qualifying, only we did not know that. Angola went and Guinea-Bissau and that is how we lost our chance.”
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