Hoping the old guards can still cut it

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so with Rwanda’s chances of qualifying for the 2012 hanging in thin air, Sellas Tetteh and his bosses have made the desperate decision. Recalling Labama Bokota and Olivier Karekezi to the national team, especially the former is a worrying decision given the manner in which he left his former club APF Fc to go and join Motema Pembe. I can’t say this one came out of the blue, but still the same it was least expected given the ‘blue print’ that Tetteh and his bosses have been feeding us on since the Ghanaian took over as team coach. The two forwards have not been in the coach’s reckoning since the start of the qualifying campaign for various reasons, and considering that the Fifa U-20 Word Cup winning coach has not shied away from putting faith in the younger players, few saw this one coming. Tetteh has named the pair along with Mao Kalisa, Dady Birori and Police Fc’s Eric Ndahayo in his provisional 27-man squad as he prepares his team for next month’s qualifier against Burundi’s Swallows in Bujumbura. But like assistant coach Eric Nshyimiyimana stated, it’s one thing to be named on the provisional list and a totally different ball game to make the final team. “It’s a level playing field so it’s up to them to prove that they deserve to wear the Amavubi jersey,” the former APR and Amavubi midfielder noted while commenting on the inclusion of the Karekezi and Bokota. Karekezi’s troubles when agitating his return to into the frame are well documented, and in terms of fairness the former team captain, the less we revisit that chapter the better. May be he deserves his chance, since as we all know that life is full people on second chances, and even more. But for Bokota and Kalisa, due to their past checkered disciplinary records, bringing them back in the group doesn’t send the right signals in terms of enhancing discipline as far as Rwandan football is concerned. Since taking over, Tetteh has resisted the temptation to put his faith in the older players, instead preferring to trust the younger and home based players whom he has always preached are the future of the national team. Nonetheless, his bosses have on numerous occasions, tempted him to give a chance to one or two older players and on each of those occasions, he has been left disappointed. He gave the first chance to Louis Aniweta in the first qualifier away to Ivory Coast, a game that Rwanda lost 3-0 and his [Tetteh] verdict was that the player wasn’t good to fit in the team, and he hasn’t returned. Then Saidi Abedi Makasi was the second veteran player to get his chance to bring some experience to what obviously a young and less experienced team for the most previous qualifier against Burundi, but the DR Congo born striker could only warn the bench—so another old player missed his chance to make his mark under the Ghanaian. So will it be a similar story for Karekezi, Bokota and Kalisa or these ones will pass Tetteh’s test? Only time will tell, and we don’t have too much of it to wait as June 3 is just days away, but the fact is the decision to recall one of two of them was a desperate one to say the least. nku78@yahoo.com