Replacing Olunga will be tough for Kenya – Muyoti

Michael Olunga of Kenya

Monday Sep 28, 2020. 11:00

Kenya will struggle to replace Michael Olunga in their attack, according to Kakamega Homeboyz manager Nicholas Muyoti.

Olunga, 26, still has plenty of mileage left in his legs at international level, but the burden on him has grown in recent years and there are no genuine contenders emerging to challenge him as the Harambee Stars’ attacking spearhead.

Muyoti argues that the current striking candidates have not proved themselves at club level in the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) – let alone stepping up to international football.

“We’ve all seen what happened after [Dennis] Oliech left then [Allan] Wanga before Olunga filled the void,” Muyoti told Standard Sports, as quoted by Goal.

“We are talking about a national team going out there without a bench power of strikers who can come in to change the game. You realise there is always a gap when Olunga is not there. That simply tells you we are lacking backup.

“We are even worried who will be the next lead striker after Olunga exits the scene. Most of the upcoming strikers have not shown intent that they are finishers. Even looking at the margin of goals in KPL matches initially the scoreline was not high.

“In Kenya, we’ve so many midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers but for strikers, we can name those we’ve had in the recent past. Every generation has come up with not more than five strikers.

“But I think this is something that can be taken care of especially if coaches concentrate on working on that area.”

Kenya are set to return to international friendly action with two matches in October (tentatively slated to be against Zambia and Zimbabwe) before resuming their Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign against Comoros in November.