August 12, 1987: David “Kamoga” Ochieng stands arms akimbo, crestfallen, after conceding a controversial goal that diehard Kenyan football fans will never forget.
It was the final of the Fourth All Africa Games at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, and Kenya’s gallant “Harambee Stars” stood on the cusp of greatness, up against Egypt’s mighty “Pharaohs”.
With the game goalless, and into extra time in front of a packed-beyond-capacity, vociferous crowd, Egypt won a free-kick just inside Kenya’s half in the 11th minute of the first half of extra-time play.
“My defenders ran out as the kick was taken, leaving Egypt’s striker Mohammed Ramadan alone… he was clearly off-side, and he scored… the goal stood,” Ochieng, who also turned out for the mighty Gor Mahia Football Club, recalled in an interview yesterday, some 30 years after the fact.
“We had played well and pinned them in their own half, missing a lot of chances,” Ochieng, 63, flashed back. “If there was VAR at that time, it would have certainly disallowed the goal.”
Ochieng’s central defender, “Six-million-dollar-man” John Bobby Ogolla, corroborated his ‘keeper’s frustrations over the controversial, 101st minute goal: “Kamoga was behind us and could see all that happened in front of him….
Just as the kick was taken, we all moved out of our area and Mohammed dashed in,” Ogolla recalled yesterday.
“He was clearly off-side. “Even President Daniel arap Moi was frustrated and said the scorer was offside,” Ogolla, a Gor legend added.
The Stars had qualified for the final in dramatic fashion, edging out Malawi 4-3 on post-match penalties after a 1-1 regulation time draw in a replayed semi-final match.
Replayed because the initial fixture on August 9, 1987, was called off after the lights at Nyayo National Stadium controversially went off with Malawi – featuring such stars as Holman Malunga, Felix Nyirongo, Young Chimodzi Lawrence Waya and Donex Gondwe - leading 1-0 and pinning the home team on the back foot.
Three decades later – from the Mohammed Ramadan era to the Mohammed Salah generation - a lot of water has passed under the bridge and in August, Kasarani and Nyayo stadiums will host the biggest football tournament since that memorable ’87 All Africa Games with the African Nations Championship kicking off across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania under the “Pamoja” banner.
Yes, the new date is August after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced the tournament’s postponement last night.
“Good progress has been made in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda with the construction and upgrading of stadiums, training fields, hotels, hospitals and other infrastructure and facilities for the hosting of a successful TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (Chan) Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda 2024,” CAF explained in a statement released on its website last night after a crisis meeting in Nairobi.
“However, the CAF Technical and Infrastructure experts some of whom have been based in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, have advised CAF that more time is required to ensure that the infrastructure and facilities, are at the levels, necessary for hosting a successful TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (Chan) Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda 2024,” the statement added.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe thanked the East African hosts for the work put in for the preparations.
“I would like to express my deep gratitude to President William Ruto of Kenya, President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda for their leadership, commitment and the good progress that has been made in building and upgrading the stadiums, training fields, hotels, hospitals and other infrastructure and facilities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for hosting a successful TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (Chan) Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda 2024,” Motsepe said in the statement.
“I am impressed with the ongoing construction and renovations of the football infrastructure and facilities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. I am confident that the stadiums, training fields, hotels, hospitals and other infrastructure and facilities will be at the requisite CAF standards for hosting, in August 2025, a very successful TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (Chan) Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda 2024.”
Tonight’s draw will, however, continue as planned, with “Kamoga” and Ogolla certainly among the legends invited to the 8pm ceremony for the eighth CHAN tournament at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) that will also be attended by President William Ruto. They will continue to reflect on what might have been had VAR technology been in force on that fateful August 12, 1987 evening.
And now that the new date is August, the legends will be marking exactly 38 years after the ’87 final.
The August Chan tournament will feature 19 teams with Nairobi hosting nine teams drawn into two pools as Kampala and Dar es Salaam host one group each.
Kasarani, scene of the 1987 crime, is being fitted with the latest innovation by CAF which includes goal-line technology and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, technology that would have seen the day’s referee, Ethiopian-Eritrean Tesfaye Gebreyesus, judge Ramadan off-side and overrule his extra-time goal of the memorable 1987 final. (Tesfaye died in Asmara in August, 2019).
And the new floodlights system being installed at the Nyayo National Stadium would certainly have seen the August 9, 1987 semi-final clash between Kenya and Malawi go full the 90 minutes…
“This (Chan) is a great tournament for Kenya and it will definitely help standards improve because our players will interact with the continent’s best players, observe their work ethic and learn many things from them,” observes “Kamoga” who joined Gor in 1983 from Stima FC and remained in the famous “K’Ogalo” green colours until he hung up his gloves 11 years later in 1994.
“Legends like us should be roped in to motivate the young players. Kenyan football has never reached the heights it did during our time,” asserted “Kamoga”, who, alongside Ogolla, also won the Africa Cup Winners’ Cup (Mandela Cup) continental club title with “K’Ogalo” in 1987.
“Harambee Stars” squad of ’87 had nine players from Gor with defenders Ogolla and Austin “Makamu” Oduor, both from “K’ogalo” pillars in central defence as AFC Leopards’ Wycliffe “Josimar” Anyangu and Hassan Juma consolidated the full-back positions. It is Kenya’s best team to date,” Ochieng adds.
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will co-host the 19-nation biennial tournament - for players turning out in African leagues - under the “Pamoja” umbrella as a dress rehearsal for the more glamorous 2027 African Cup of Nations finals whose hosting rights the three nations were also jointly awarded.
Dar es salaam’s 60,000-seater Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium and Kampala’s 45,000 capacity Namboole Stadium have been lined up to host the tournament alongside Nairobi’s Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani (55,000) and Nyayo National Stadium (18,000).
Zanzibar’s 15,000-seater Amaan Sports Complex is also listed as one of the possible host venues. The 16 teams coming to East Africa to join hosts Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in August are from Morocco, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Central African Republic.
Others are from DR Congo, Congo, Sudan, Zambia, Angola and Madagascar with two more nations joining after a final round of qualification.
Last week, Caf announced a 75 percent increase in the Chan competition winner’s prize money as part of a 32 percent increase in total prize money, adding to the tournament’s glamour.
The winner will now receive $3.5 million (Sh453 million) with the total prize money raised to $10.4 million (Sh1.3 billion) in the tournament referred to as “Chan 2024” for marketing purposes (as it was initially scheduled for 2024) and title-sponsored by French petroleum giants TotalEnergies.
Tonight’s draw ceremony is being put together by French events agency LEAP that also organized the closing ceremony for last year’s Paris Olympic Games.
President Ruto tops the VVIP guest list at the draw that will be attended by over 400 carefully-picked guests and hosted by CAF President Patrice Motsepe, of course alongside Kenya’s Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya and his Principal Secretary Peter Tum and Cabinet Secretaries and dignitaries from Uganda and Tanzania.
“All arrangements have been made and we are ready for the draw, and we have the pleasure of having His Excellency President William Ruto in attendance,” PS Tum told a pre-draw press briefing at KICC yesterday afternoon.
With the entertainment menu a state secret, speculation is rife the Sauti Sol’s Bien – who was seen scanning the venue on Sunday afternoon - will hit the stage with Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian football legends McDonald Mariga, Hassan Wasswa and Mrisho Ngasa, respectively, conducting the draw to be televised live globally from the big stage set up at the KICC’s Tsavo Ballroom.
Wasswa won 75 caps for Uganda’s Cranes and also played professionally in Turkey and Saudi Arabia while Ngasa turned out 100 times for Tanzania’s Taifa Stars, also plying his trade in South Africa and Oman besides wearing the colours of Tanzania’s big three – Simba SC, Young Africans and Azam FC.
Mariga’s career highlights include winning the 2010 Uefa Champions League and Club World Cup with Italy’s Inter Milan, at the time under flamboyant coach Jose Mourinho.
The tournament’s previous winners are DR Congo (2009, 2016), Tunisia (2011), Libya (2014), Morocco (2018, 2020) and Senegal (2022).
For tonight’s Chan draw, host nations Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are seeded as “A1”, “B1” and “C1”, respectively with the others seedings pegged on the results of the last three tournaments.
Over 300 journalists globally applied for accreditation for tonight’s draw but just over 100 will be approved given tight security precautions at the draw venue.
