Nandwa to name Harambee Stars' squad for Jamaica friendly
Updated on 12/08/12 | By DENNIS MACHIO
With Kenya lined up to play an international friendly match against Jamaica’s Reggae boys on 25th of August, coach James Nandwa is expected to release the names of players who will head to camp at least three days before the match that will be played in Connecticut USA.
Jamaica will be using the friendly against Kenya to prepare for their September 7 World Cup Qualifying match against the United States.
Nandwa was last week appointed as Kenya’s caretaker coach as FKF seeks to hire a new tactician. He told michezoafrika.com that he has been in contact with the Federation, players and clubs and he will release the list of players anytime this week.
“I am still in consultation before we can make any announcement but most likely early this week we will release the squad. I am optimistic the team will have sufficient time to train ahead of the friendly match,” Nandwa said.
Among the foreign based players expected to be called up by Nandwa include Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama, custodian Arnold Origi and striker Dennis Oliech.
_________________________ "Money doesn't change men, it merely unmasks them." - Henry Ford
I have not been able to find other "official" sources, but this is being reported on one site, and it has been picked up by various Kenyan blog sites:
Jamaica vs Kenya friendly postponed
Updated on 19/08/12 | By TIMOTHY OLOBULU
The international friendly pitting Jamaica's Reggaeboyz and Kenya's Harambee Stars set for Saturday 25th August in US has been postponed to a date in November due to unavoidable circumstances.
Some locally based players had already reported to camp to prepare for the match but were turned back following the new development.
National team coach James Nandwa told michezoafrika.com:"The boys were set and some had even reported to camp.We received communication late on Sunday that the match had been postponed and we did not have another option but to release the players"
The team was set to depart on 23rd August for Connecticut where they were to play the match at Rentschler Field stadium.
I figured this would happen. The ticket sales were probably extremely low. The non fifa date, location, and teams for this date would have been a flop.
What is this? Fan support so low that we cannot get enough people to support the team? A few years ago no matter how weak the opponent the support was there.
Well, the listing for the game is now off the FIFA site, so we should get a JFF notice soon.
And there is no doubt that this fiasco is a result of the incompetence of both the JFF and the FKF (Kenyan Federation). The latter is well known to be a corrupt and reprehensible organization, and the former has the same profile, but only among a few knowledgeable fans on this site
Here is "official" word from the Associated Press:
Soccer match between Jamaica and Kenya canceled
The Associated Press EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)
A planned exhibition soccer game between Jamaica and Kenya has been canceled because of poor ticket sales.
Samuel Sampson, a spokesman for Singapore-based promoter Ricky Swen and his company, Swen Labels International, says only 120 tickets were sold for the match, which had been scheduled for Saturday at the 40,000-seat Rentschler Field.
It's the second time this summer Swen has canceled an exhibition at the stadium. A planned July 28 match between Liberia and Jamaica was called off after Swen failed to secure agreements from both teams and the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Kenya was brought in as a replacement and the match rescheduled.
Sampson says his group is still talking to both teams to see if they can reschedule the match for another date.
This will never be played because, even with full squads, you will never sell more than a handful of tickets.
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I didn't want to burst the bubble (in case the two FAs decided to jump in and make it work) but this was a non-starter beginning with the original Liberia/JA game. The Swen guy is a joker trying to play in the big times. He ropes in teams like Jamaica who are unable/too lazy to arrange their own friendlies and hope that the games generate enough interest to guarantee a profit. Unlike the El Salvadorian group that did the same for the JA/ES game, he has no sponors/investors to front the pre-match expenses and so can't deliver. His hope was that if tickets sales had been robust, he could offer that as incentive to his friends to help front these expenses. Again, unlike the ES group, he doesn't know how to choose teams that will attract crowds to a particular venue. DC is a sure sell-out for Guatemala and ES national team games due to their soccer-mad population in that area. There wasn't even any need to attract JA or Paraguayian support.
JFF needs to stop this amateur approach to arranging friendlies.
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Reggae Boyz vs Kenya: Cancelled August 20, 2012 Filed under Articles, Contributed Articles, Jamaica National Teams, Men's Senior News, National Mens News, National News, News, Teams Posted by JamFedadmin
CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE
The international friendly pitting Jamaica’s Reggaeboyz and Kenya’s Harambee Stars set for Saturday 25th August in US has been postponed to a date in November due to unavoidable circumstances.
Some locally based players had already reported to camp to prepare for the match but were turned back following the new development.
National team coach James Nandwa told michezoafrika.com:”The boys were set and some had even reported to camp.We received communication late on Sunday that the match had been postponed and we did not have another option but to release the players”
The team was set to depart on 23rd August for Connecticut where they were to play the match at Rentschler Field stadium.
There wasn't even any need to attract JA....support.
No need to try and attract us because we naa gaa nuh game. We busy pon forum a cuss out JFF an' Tappa an' Burrell and di playas dem. We a big fan we nuh gaa game.
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The surest sign other intelligent life exists in the universe is that it hasn't tried to contact us.
There wasn't even any need to attract JA....support.
No need to try and attract us because we naa gaa nuh game. We busy pon forum a cuss out JFF an' Tappa an' Burrell and di playas dem. We a big fan we nuh gaa game.
A wah yu a talk bout, wi a game day walk up type a fans. LOL
I was getting ready to bring the family out to see this Saturday even though the vibes never right. The match was supposed to play right in my backyard so I have no excused not to venture out.
However, like other ites have pointed out, the production for this was not right from day one. Build a better product and they will come. It's business education 101.
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"The heights of great men reach and kept were not attained by sudden flight..." - Henry Longfellow
Like I have stressed before, you cannot continue to disillusion the fans and then expect them to just shut up. The JFF MUST, and quickly, put a PR team together as they are heading for a train wreck if we fail to make it to Brazil.
