Kenyan legend Oliech questions McCarthy’s move to axe Olunga

Kenyan legend Dennis Oliech believes national team technical bench led by Benni McCarthy did a mistake to drop striker Michael Olunga for the upcoming friendly matches in November.

Harambee Stars have left to Antalya, Turkey, where they are scheduled to face Equatorial Guinea and Senegal. They will face Equatorial Guinea on November 14th at Emir Complex Stadium, before taking on Senegal on November 18th at Mardan Sports Complex.

However, the team will be without leas striker Olunga, who was left out. Despite Kenya assistant coach Vasili Manousakis defending the decision to leave out the former Gor Mahia striker, Oliech believes the Al Arabi forward in the Qatar Stars League deserves to be in the squad.

Olunga is leading captain and deserves to make squad

“Olunga deserves to be in the Harambee Stars squad,” said Oliech as quoted by Flashscore. “The coach doesn’t deserve to leave Olunga out because he is the leading captain, and best striker for Kenya.

“Until Olunga says I have retired, it is when he should be left out of the squad. Having Olunga in the squad, and with the experience he has, will motivate the young players in the team.”

Oliech, who scored 34 goals for Kenya before retiring added: “It is unfortunate Kenya is going to Turkey without experienced players, even the young players will feel burdened with the opportunity of playing minus experienced players guiding them.\

“If you have experienced players in your team, it is not necessary they start a game, they can come from the bench and make a huge impact, and by doing so it will be a big motivation for the young players.

“This will motivate the young players, because they need to learn from someone, and that someone is an experienced player. So, for me, I still believe Olunga is part and parcel of the national team, and should not be ignored.”

Ryan Ogam will be required to step up and fill in the shoe of Olunga in Turkey.

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