NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 8 – An unhappy Harambee Stars head coach Sebastien Migne walked out of his Ghana post-match press conference and took no questions after speaking for two minutes and 37 seconds, expressing his disappointment with an apparent lack of respect to the team.
The Frenchman expressed displeasure at two items; first, his side did not have adequate time to train at the Moi Sports Centre Kasarani while visiting Cameroon, who pitched camp in Kenya ahead of their clash away to Comoros, were accorded full access, and secondly with the injured players who never reported to camp, including skipper Victor Wanyama.
“I am very happy of that (winning), but I am not happy at all and I think I will be very brief tonight because during the week there was a lack of respect with this team. When I saw Cameroon have training in this field (Kasarani) and not us who we were at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, I was not happy” the tactician said of his side’s failure to train consistently at Kasarani.
He went on;
“I can speak about Blackberry (George Odhiambo) for example, in France Under 21 team, a Liepzig player was not there when he was called and they asked FIFA to give him a suspension. Hugo Loris who is a World Cup Champion with France, he was in Paris to check with the national team doctor if his injury was true or not.
“I have full confidence with Victor Wanyama but I need to check. If we want to achieve at the high level we need to improve a lot of things and I don’t want to speak about Boniface Oluoch or Allan Wanga; I think it was a lack of respect, I don’t want to say too much I want to keep cool, keep quiet… I need to think about the future… thank you,” the French tactician said before exiting the room, leaving waiting journalists dazed.
The tactician had called in Odhiambo, Wanga and Oluoch into the squad but none of them reported to camp as it was said they were injured.
Wanyama on his end missed the tie as he has just returned from injury and is yet to pick match fitness and has been at the club’s training round.
Despite missing the captain as well as the suspended duo of Brian Mandela and winger Ayub Timbe, Stars pulled a surprise off their bags beating the Black Stars by a solitary goal and putting their hopes of qualification to the 2019 African Cup of Nations on track.
“I am very proud of my players; I like so much the spirit of the team. With only four days it was not easy to build a good spirit and with this kind of opponent it is difficult but in terms of spirit my boys gave something incredible,” the tactician said as he basked in the glory of the valuable three points.
But even despite the win, Migne says there is still a lot of work to be done but says the path has picked up and soon, the team will be where he wants.
“We are far from the high level. We are on the way but so so so far away. If you think because tonight we have beaten Ghana we are on the same level, it is not true. It is not the reality; I am not a liar,” added the tactician.