NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 5 – Harambee Stars head coach Jacob ‘Ghost Mulee’ was left impressed with the performance of Serbia based midfielder Richard Odada after his debut for the national team during Thursday’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Uganda.
Odada whose only other appearance for the national team was with Stanley Okumbi’s Under-20 side three years ago put up an impressive performance in midfield and was hugely singled out as Kenyas brightest star in a dull encounter.
Before the game, Mulee had called the 21-year old to the touchline and had a long embrace with him.
“It was his first game for the senior national team and I just embraced him to give him the confidence and encourage him that he needs to step up,” Mulee said.
“I have never seen such a midfielder in Africa for a long time and for sure he is one player who I believe will make it into the top top leagues in Europe. He won the midfield battle, he was accurate in his passing, he had the hunger and that is what we are looking for as a team,” further opined Mulee.
He added; “I was so happy with what he showed and I don’t think we will ever talk about the midfield again. He is a young player who is showing a lot of promise.”
Odada is currently playing for FC Metellac in the Serbian top tier, having been loaned out by Red Star Belgrade to find the valuable playing time.
Odada has spent time with the Belgrade Under-19 team before being promoted to the senior ranks. He has also trained with Juventus.
Mulee says he is happy that his squad has a balance of young and senior players, saying the team is under transition and will be a solid one in future.
Looking back at the game against Uganda, Mulee was pleased with the point but not entirely satisfied especially with the lukewarm performance.
“It is not the result we wanted but I am happy with the plauers because if you look back we have not played a friendly game together since we played against Togo. It is always hard to get the rhythm in the first match especially with new players. We didn’t pass the ball like we usually do,”
“I was happy with the defense line because we did well to contain a very experienced Ugandan strikeforce. It was not the best game but at least we had positives to pick from,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mulee will kook towards the game against Rwanda, hoping for a positive result.
