Former Harambee Stars midfielder Tom Juma has said Victor Wanyama has a lot to learn from retired captain Musa Otieno.
Otieno remains Kenya’s long-serving captain and Juma says the current skipper has got a lot of lessons to learn from the former AFC Leopards and Tusker central defender.
Otieno broke into Harambee Stars squad as a 19-year-old defender in 1993 before taking the armband later on and kept it until he led Kenya back to the Africa Cup of Nations in 2004 after 12 years away from the showpiece.
Wanyama was Kenya’s skipper in the last Afcon edition in Egypt.
“They have been great leaders that is why they have been picked as captains for different generations. Of course, every captain deserves to be there but Musa [Otieno] is somebody I worked with and found him an inspiring leader,” Juma told Goal.
“That is why he kept the armband for a very long time. I worked with him for long but again all of the captains deserve to serve the nation in that capacity.
“They are thereby merit. In football, you always learn from the previous leaders and Wanyama has a lot of things to learn from Otieno.”
Juma, the current football operations manager at AFC Leopards, says although Otieno did not play for any European club his experience remains unmatched.
Otieno won the Kenyan Premier League with both AFC Leopards and Tusker before going to make his name in South Africa at Santos FC.
“He [Otieno] might not have played in England but the experience he has in football cannot be compared to anyone. Wanyama has a lot to learn from him,” added Juma.
Juma, who was part of Kenya’s 2004 Afcon contingent, explained why Wanyama and his company should have strived to make a bigger impact in 2019 so as to help the country record better results in every subsequent edition they take part in.
“The 2019 group would have just done better than we did so that the record can be bettered as we move forward,” he concluded.
“All in all, it is a difficult tournament but at least they would have taken the advantage of increased teams because when teams are many the level of competition tends to go down.
“Before, it was best of the best vs best of the best and even winning was very difficult.”
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Kenya started the 2021 qualifiers on a good note after drawing against Egypt and Togo in the first two group matches.
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