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Oliech blames Amrouche vendetta for woes

OLIECH-BAFANANAIROBI, Kenya, June 10- Deposed Harambee Stars captain, Dennis Oliech, is alleging his woes in the national side stem from a personal vendetta head coach, Adel Amrouche has against him.

In an exclusive interview with SuperSport.com published Monday, the record goal scorer and most capped Kenyan player adds he is not ready to quit the side despite being dropped from the squad that travelled to Malawi to face the home side in a 2014 World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.

“I’m surprised by the actions of the coach but I feel this issue has now become personal rather than professional. However, I’m committed to Harambee Stars and this will not make me quit the team,” Oliech told the website.

The AJ Ajaccio French Ligue 1 striker refuted claims made by the team’s management that he took leave from training without due reason as he blamed Amrouche for making himself inaccessible to him.

Oliech was suspended for the Nigeria tie last Wednesday where Stars went down 1-0 for accumulating two yellow cards in previous qualifiers and was expected to be available for the Blantrye trip.

“On Tuesday before the game I joined the rest of the team where we presented food to the Mama Ngina Children’s home but I could see the coach was avoiding me.

“On match day I went early to camp and requested to see the coach in person and I went to his room. At that point, I gave him an apology and stressed the importance of working together and he accepted and asked the kit manager to give me a jersey so that I could accompany the team to the stadium,” the former captain narrated.

“Things went well and when we got to the dressing room but as I was advising the players, he told me to only motivate them and I should not talk anything tactical and this really surprised me as I have played Nigeria several times,” he added.

Oliech goes on to lament efforts to get audience with the Belgian when he joined the side on Thursday for training were rebuffed by the head coach who had then instructed his technical bench not to address the striker.

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AMROUCHE-XINHUA“When I came to camp I found the players and technical bench were unfriendly towards me only for assistant coach (James) Nandwa to tell me Amrouche had instructed players and members of the technical bench not to speak to me which really surprised me.

“Personally I don’t have a problem with coach Amrouche but I feel he has a fixed opinion of me and he is not ready to talk to me. I have given 100 percent to Kenya for many years and I don’t think I have a problem when it comes to performance but it is wrong for the coach to incite other players and the technical bench against me for reasons I don’t know.”

He went on to refute claims he had led team mates Jamal Mohammed and Patrick Osiako to the Blankets & Wines event three days before the Super Eagles tie saying, “both are adults.”

Oliech stressed his well documented partying lifestyle had no effects on his displays for the national side.

“Yes, I have gone for partying at times but that has not hindered my performance for Harambee Stars so it is wrong to judge me on that particular issue.”

By his own admission, stripping Oliech the armband will not affect his resolve to play for the national side when called upon.

“To be sincere I do not mind not being the captain of Harambee Stars as there are no incentives that come with this role.

“I gave 100 percent as captain and I wonder why the coach could not be professional enough to personally inform me of the changes instead of talking to the media first,” he complained.

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