Football
Ed Dove, Special to ESPN 6y

Paul Put exit comes as major setback for Harambee Stars

Paul Put's reign as Kenya national team coach may have been brief, but the Belgian coach demonstrated enough during his short tenure to suggest that he'll be badly missed after his resignation earlier this month.

Indeed, it's not overstating the point to argue that the Belgian's exit has the potential to derail this promising Harambee Stars collective as they target a maiden African Cup of Nations outing since 2004.

In truth, and perhaps to his credit, Put had precious little time to make an impact with the East Africans, having only been appointed as Stanley Okumbi's successor in November.

However, his reign brought almost immediate success, as Kenya saw off their regional rivals to win the 2017 CECAFA Cup for clubs from Central and East Africa.

A minor tournament, perhaps, but it was silverware nonetheless, and represented something of an ideal start to Put's tenure.

Even the fact that Kenya had managed to attract him in the first place can be considered something of a coup, particularly remembering the fact that Put was linked to the Guinea post - as he is now - back in 2017.

Here was a manager who would bring a broad experience and a track record of success to the East African sleeping giants.

He'd already spent time with The Gambia, Jordan, USM Alger and a host of sides in Belgium before taking the Kenya post, but most encouraging for the Stars, surely, was his stint with Burkina Faso.

Here, he'd not only taken a team who had previously been on the periphery of AFCON to the final of the tournament - where they'd been beaten by Nigeria - but he also oversaw the Stallions' transition into something of a continental force.

There were plenty of remnants of Put's 2013 team in the side that won the bronze medal at the 2017 event in Gabon, and his legacy still burns brightly in that particular corner of West Africa.

Surely, Nick Mwendwa would have been keen for the 61-year-old to oversee a similar upturn in fortunes for the Harambee Stars and, with the extended AFCON offering a major opportunity to nations of Kenya's stature, his appointment appeared sound.

Already, at the CECAFA Cup, the difference between the team when overseen by Put, and by Okumbi was notable.

There was a swagger and a conviction about the Stars, the kind of which hadn't even been evident during the admirable undefeated streak the latter registered while Kenya boss.

"Put has the experience," Mwendwa told Standard Sports. "That freshness and the deeper approach into methods, things we were not doing before, based from the experience he brought on board is helpful."

"Many people had written us off," Patillah Omoto told Standard Sports, "but the coach instilled a winning mentality in the team and also gave some of us a chance to play."

As well as securing moderate success in the short-term, and boasting the experience to guide a long-term rebuild, Put also effected changes which boded well for the national side's medium-term future...and specifically, their chances of making the 2019 AFCON.

Defensively, Kenya were excellent at the CECAFA Cup; they didn't concede until the 89th minute of the final - going almost six games without being breached - and were both organised and resilient at the back.

Despite Okumbi's qualities, one criticism that can be levelled at him is his apparent uncertainty and indecision when picking starting XIs. Okumbi regularly chopped and changed, appearing to occasionally lack confidence in his own methods, and dithering at the expense of team familiarity.

By contrast, Put settled on a 4-2-3-1 formation which immediately appeared to solve some of the limitations of Okumbi's preferred 4-3-3, and very quickly got the best out of playmaker Wyvonne Isuza.

The attacking talent has starred for the likes of Mathare United and AFC Leopards in the Kenya Premier League, and it's tantalising to imagine how he'll mesh in a midfield ahead of Victor Wanyama during the AFCON qualifiers.

Certainly, Isuza thrived when given license to impress as the No. 10 in Put's selection, and as the Belgian helped transform Alain Traore and Jonathan Pitroipa into familiar names in the African context, so he could have done with his playmaker of choice.

It would have been fascinating to see what impact Put could have had on former KPL MVP Kenneth Muguna, recently signed for FK Tirana of Albania, and how he'd have managed the need to combine home-based players and Kenya's foreign stars to forge an effective unit.

That will remain a tantalising 'what might have been', as while Put moves onto the challenges to come, Kenya will have to appoint a successor and hope that the new man can build on the promising elements that had barely been laid by his Belgian predecessor.

""Next week, we will have a bigger and better coach," President Mwendwa told journalists, as per The Star. "This is an easy matter to handle."

His optimism will only prove to be well placed if Kenya reach next year's Nations Cup.

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