In August 1987, Kenya put up what is probably their best ever performance in a continental event. Now before anyone dismisses the All Africa games, you should know that in those days, the All African games featured full strength teams unlike today when they feature U-23 players. Kenya was in group A along with Cameroon, Tunisia and Madagascar. Group B had Egypt, Cote’d Ivoire, Senegal and Malawi. Cameroun featured several stars who would later make waves at the 1990 world cup:  Benjamin Massing, Jean Claude Pagal, Cyrille Makanaky, Andre Kana Biyik, Jacque Songoo, Charles Ntamark and Bertin Ebwelle among others.

Not much was expected from team Kenya. Even though Kenya had done extremely well in the regional CECAFA challenge cup during the 1980s, most fans realized that the 4th All Africa games would be a completely different proposition given the quality of the opposition. Not much was known about the new coach, Reinhard Fabisch. And his performance so far was far from impressive. Kenya had just finished losing 7-1 aggregate to Egypt in an Olympic qualifier while playing under Coach Fabisch. However a month earlier, the Kenya national team had gone to Germany for training. There they stayed for a month and played 10 friendly matches against second and third tier German sides. The training camp built cohesion and Kenya’s play dramatically improved.

Kenya started off against Tunisia. Fans Nyayo stadium were tense, not knowing what to expect from either Tunisia or Harambee stars. When the lineup was read, fans were baffled. Why was Mickey Weche playing in central defence instead of his usual full back position. And why were Harambee stars playing with 2 wingers and no central striker ? Amid tense moments, Kenya gave a good account of themselves. At half time the score was 0-0. In the second half, Sammy Onyango “Jogoo” sent one of his trademark pinpoint crosses which Ambrose Ayoyi “Golden Boy” finished with a glorious diving header. Kenya won 1-0 and fans were finally believers.

In the second match, Kenya came up against the mighty Cameroun. This is the same Cameroun that had won the Africa nations cup only 3 years earlier in glorious fashion and almost won again 2 years later. The same Cameroun that when they toured Kenya for a friendly in 1984, easily beat the hosts 3-1. Then Captain Theophile Abega said “Kenya have a long way to go in football”. Kenyans expected another beating. But they were surpised when Ambrose Ayoyi  showed why he was nicknamed “the golden boy” when he scored the match opener yet again and Kenya were  up 1-0. But Cameroun came back storming to score 3 straight goals. Kenya seemed destined to lose. However they came back storming and scored 2 late goals to tie the game. The final score in this thriller was 3-3.

The final group match was against Madagascar. As usual, President Moi who was very popular at the time, was present with many from his cabinet. Wilberforce Mulamba scored the opening goal. Madagascar equalized midway through the second half. Kenya could have qualified even with a draw but the large crowd including the President and his cabinet wanted a winning goal. Fabisch introduced George Odembo “Nyangi” in the second half and Kenya were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box. Madagascar soon found out why Odembo was nicknamed “artillery” by fans as he blasted a crashing free-kick through the Madagascar defensive wall and into the net for Kenya’s second goal. Kenya went into the semis in grand style. In the other group, Malawi shocked all by beating Egypt to top the group. Angry Egyptian players sobbed openly as they thought they had been eliminated. Others like Hany Ramzy took their anger out on Nyayo stadium by smashing windows in the dressing room. However Games organizers threatened to disqualify Egypt if they did not pay.

The final group match was against Madagascar. As usual, President Moi who was very popular at the time, was present with many from his cabinet. Wilberforce Mulamba scored the opening goal. Madagascar equalized midway through the second half. Kenya could have qualified even with a draw but the large crowd including the President and his cabinet wanted a winning goal. Fabisch introduced George Odembo “Nyangi” in the second half and Kenya were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box. Madagascar soon found out why Odembo was nicknamed “artillery” by fans as he blasted a crashing free-kick through the Madagascar defensive wall and into the net for Kenya’s second goal. Kenya went into the semis in grand style. In the other group, Malawi shocked all by beating Egypt to top the group. Angry Egyptian players sobbed openly as they thought they had been eliminated. Others like Hany Ramzy took their anger out on Nyayo stadium by smashing windows in the dressing room. However the result of the other group game worked in the Egyptians favour and they scraped into the semis. Games organizers threatened to disqualify Egypt if they did not pay for the damage they caused.

In the semis, Kenya faced Malawi only a day after they had played their last group game. The match was played under floodlights. The fatigue was evident as Malawi who had plenty of rest were clearly outplaying the Kenyans. Suddenly the floodlights at Nyayo stadium stopped working. Was it a power outage ? After all power outages have always been common in Kenya right ? Or did they switch off the lights to save Kenya from imminent defeat ? Your guess is as good as mine. In any case the game was replayed the next day and with Kenya getting an extra day of rest, they matched the Malawians and won on penalties 3-2 with Sammy Onyango, George Onyango “Fundi” and Austin Oduor slotting Kenya’s penalties. The other semi was also decided on penalties and Egypt beat Cameroun

In the final Kenya played well and battled the Egyptians tooth and nail. However they  lost 0-1. The goal Egypt scored was debatable as it was scored from a seemingly offside position. Replays seemed to confirm this, the Egyptian striker was left all alone against goalkeeper David Ochieng with no defender in sight. As a side note, before the game, President Moi ordered all the gates open so fans could get in for free. The stadium had close to 120,000 fans that day, twice its capacity. Its a wonder the stadium did not collapse. Thank goodness for sturdy Chinese construction.

Kenya gave its best ever performance at the 4th All African games. Its fair to say that Kenya was at its peak. Other players who played key roles in this campaign included the overlapping left back Hassan Juma. To this day, many think he is the best left back ever to play for Kenya. There was Bobby Ogolla and Austin Oduor “Makamu in central defence, David Odhiambo and Charles Otieno in midfield along with Mulamba and George Onyango “Fundi”. And of course Sammy Onyango and Ambrose Ayoyi. They beat Tunisia and finished ahead of Cote’d Ivoire and Senegal, each of whom failed to make the semis. However these countries put in place structures that allowed them to ascend to the top of African football and even qualify for the world cup. Kenya on the other hand has lagged behind and even regressed. The difference is having officials who are patriotic, committed to the cause and intelligent enough to come up with ideas on how to lift the game. Kenya is unfortunate to be led by officials who are greedy, corrupt, self serving or flat out clueless.

Kenya on the other hand has lagged behind and even regressed. The difference is having officials who are patriotic, committed to the cause and intelligent enough to come up with ideas on how to lift the game. Kenya is unfortunate to be led by officials who are greedy, corrupt, self serving or flat out clueless.

It is worth noting that Kenya has never participated in All African games qualifiers much less played in the games. Kenya does not even have regular U-23 or U-17 or U-21 sides. This is largely due to official incompetence. One is left wondering why these clowns fight so hard to become KFF officials. Malawi too were very strong in the 1980s. At ANC 1984, they tied the Green Eagles of Nigeria (as they were known back then) 2-2. Malawian players like Clifton Msiya, the Waya bros, Jonathan Billie, Stock Dandize, Young Chiemodzie among others made waves all over Africa.