Robben Drives Bayern to Glory

Arjen Robben’s late goal was what Bayern Munich needed to earn a fifth UEFA title, following a 2-1 victory over fellow German side, Borussia Dortmund on Saturday night.The final match of the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League campaign held at Wembley Stadium – England – was a fourth between clubs from the same country. However, it was the first all-Germany UEFA final.

The two domestic rivals came head-to-head in what proved to be one of the toughest finals of the European league. Borussia Dortmund, the last season’s Germany Bundesliga champions, dominated most of the first half play with a couple of clear chances at their disposal. However, none of them was fruitful as Manuel Neuer produced several fantastic saves on Bayern’s goalkeeping. Hence the first half ended in a goalless draw.

Bayern Munich, who are the current Germany kings, revived their spirit and successfully took over the ball possession right from the beginning of the last half of the match. It took goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller brilliant efforts to continuously come to Dortmund’s rescue of preventing several goal attempts from the opponent’s attacking squad. However, Mario Mandzukic managed to give Bayern a 1-0 lead on the 60^th minute; thanks to the Holland international, ArjenRobben’s assistance.

In a bid to seek for an equalizer and consequently awake their winning hopes, JurgenKlopp’s men seemed to adopt the defend-and-counter-attack strategy, but their moves were constantly blocked by the strong Bayern defenders. They were later awarded a spot kick after Marco Reus was brought down by Brazillian defender, Dante Bonfim, inside the penalty area.IlkayGundogan successfully converted the resultant penalty shot into a goal to terminate Bayern’s short-lived lead on the 68^th minute. Robert Lewandowski could have awarded Dortmund a second goal a couple of minutes later but the Italian referee, Nicola Rizzoli, cancelled out the striker’s goal. Lewandowski had not kept his left hand from touching the ball just before hestriked an accurate shot from a long range into Bayern’s goal net.

Towards the end, there was a great possibility of the match going into extra time and probably penalty shoot-out stage to break the 1-1 tie. However, with just one minute of normal time left, Robben won the ball again, made a wonderful move past Dortmund defenders. He finally tackled the helpless goalkeeper and rolled the ball past his legs into the back of the net. The former Chelsea player therefore took his side into glory as the only Bayern player to have completed eleven UEFA Champions League campaigns.

Road to Wembley

Bayern Munich knocked out the newly-crowned Spanish La Liga champions – FC Barcelona – in the competition’s semi-final stage with an incredible 7-0 aggregate score.

Borussia Dortmund on the other hand, went past Real Madrid with a narrow aggregate victory of 4-3.

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Dream comes true?

According to literature opinions of late, saying ‘I have a dream…’ brings out a lighter message than ‘I have an ambition…” in the context of striving for attainment. The argument goes beyond to consider what the audience understands, rather than just what the communicator intended to mean. It is said that dreams come to someone’s mind especially when they are sleeping or just about to. They are usually less significant to the subject and are quickly forgotten once one quits the slumber unless they were nightmares. On the other hand, an ambition is normally used for a desired achievement which makes it a better term than a dream, at least according to me.

Long time ago, I had an ambition. A desire to be of good service to myself, my people, my community, my country and the world in general. All these amounted to the final destinations of my life struggle which necessitated the proper formulation of strategies. After all, in order to reach somewhere, one must pass through somewhere else. I always heard it from different opinion-holders that once you get to the university, you have succeeded in life. As a small child, too young to criticize, I was meant to meekly believe this and subsequently subscribed to this opinion. The university therefore became my academic focal point and I invested so much effort on it than Heaven itself. I was driven by the question of, ‘if people are there, why not me?’

Another factor that significantly raised my already high desire of one day being a university student was the immense demand from family, relatives, friends and former teachers. All these groups of people were for the opinion that if I do not work hard and get to the university, I would have failed them completely. It came to a point when I started wondering whether I am the only child or student with that potential ability. I loved listening to people’s narratives about university experience and I almost, but never, questioned whether some of them were true or realistic. Most of the narrators were people I knew that they have been to a university, whether as students, having attended a student’s graduation ceremony or merely having had a chance to visit a university student in the past. However, there were those whom I would always try to puzzle out where they sourced such stories from, because as far as I knew, they had never been to such an institution. Just to suppress such doubts, I suspected that a university must be a very desirable place if people talk about it like heaven and they have never been there.

Narrowing down to my specific choice, Moi University is the one whose beauty first presented itself to me. I loved Moi right from the day I learnt how to search for information over the Internet. The institution’s website looks wonderful on the homepage – I must confess. The corporate green color, moving text and the alternating graphic-enhanced headlines looked attractive to my eyes. I did not know how to follow the links on the page, so I left the site and went ahead to ‘Google’ for Moi University images. This is where I spent hours smiling. There was the Moi University Administration and Senate Building which looked similar to my imaginative Paradise. Margaret Thatcher Library was just enough to clinch my search but before taking leave of the page, I noticed something very interesting. I saw some pathways which I had to conduct a double-confirmation to ascertain that they are really found in the institution. They were decorated with vegetation on either sides and these plants produced differently-colored leaves. I knew I had just made the right choice. This was during the period between the release of K.C.S.E results and revision of courses exercise. I did not even bother about the exercise because I thought I had already made an upright decision.

29^th August, 2011 was the official opening date as was indicated on my admission form. However, due to forgivable reasons which the institution knows well, the date was quickly changed and fell on 14^th July the same year, a notice that was communicated via the newspaper which every Kenyan ought to have read, at least for that specific communication. I did not. I got the message a couple of days later. It was purely due to my ignorance and therefore I found no reason to blame any other party whatsoever. Quick arrangements had to be made and effected as demanded. Thanks to the amazing grace of the Lord, I got ready for and landed on the university within the first week.

This is the time when the reality of theoretical university experience unfolded. I began to distinguish the truth from true lies. The first statement that I disqualified came from one of my former teachers unfortunately. ‘Study hard to achieve a good grade, go to the university, enjoy your life and get a degree in the process…’ With all the confusion that I normally face, this can never be true; simultaneous lectures, signing nominal roles and class attendance lists, circulating course registration forms for lecturers’ signatures, voluminous notes, individual and group assignments, unpredictable class sit-in CATs and lengthy examinations – just to mention a few. This is not to mean that challenges are only found under academics. There are also social, financial, environmental and individual tests that I really do not want to highlight. To cut a long story short, the university, like any other place, has numerous challenges that one ought to face if anything good has to become of them.

The opinion that getting to the university means succeeding in life also seems too far away from the truth. There are cases where students misbehave in campus and are eventually expelled. This calls for self-discipline as one carries him/herself around campus. Still, continuous below-average performance can lead to a student being discontinued, which means that one must work very hard to avoid such an embarrassment. In other cases, students have failed to complete their studies due to inability to raise fees and the most terrific is when a student unfortunately passes on in the process of pursuing a course. In this logic, it is quite evident that being enrolled in a university is not the final step towards success. Even if you successfully complete your course and graduate, you may just find yourself joining a multitude of serious graduates as well as job-seekers. The biggest worry that a university student should therefore have is the question of, ‘what special quality do I possess that will attract an employer to me at the expense of the rest?’

Therefore, ‘I still have an ambition…”A desire to gain favors from the Almighty and become someone worth mentioning in the near future. Hard work continues…

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Fare thee well Sir Alex!

Manchester United football club confirmed on Wednesday morning that Sir Alex Ferguson is set to retire as the club’s manager at the end of the current Barclays Premier League season. The 71-year old Scottish had earlier on dropped a hint to the players, prior to the UEFA Champions League exit in February that he would retreat as head-coach, a statement that remained unconfirmed till Wednesday 8^th May.

Sir Alex Ferguson; 1986 - 2013 (United manager)

 Officially announcing his decision, Ferguson said,

“The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time.”

About the current status of the club, Sir Alex told the fans that he worked hard to leave it tough.

“It was important to me to leave an organisation (Manchester United) in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so…” 

However, his retirement will not see him quit the club’s affairs soon. He is set to take up the roles of both the Director and Ambassador of the club.
Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford on 6^th November 1986, following the sacking of Ron Atkinson as manager of Manchester United. He is the most successful manager in British football history, winning a total of 38 trophies, including 13 Premier League titles and 2 UEFA Champions League glories, during his time in charge of Manchester United. His last trophy is the current Barclays Premier League title, whose victory was sealed on 22^nd April after a Robin van Persie’s hat-trick that awarded United a 3-0 win against Aston Villa. The club’s 20^th Premier league title will be lifted this Sunday, immediately after their home match again Swansea City, scheduled to kick off at 6.00PM.

David Moyes will soon be named the new club’s manager after being handpicked by Sir Alex Ferguson himself. His first choice was backed by a host of Old Trafford legends who are calling for the Everton boss to take over. Once confirmed, Moyes will be given a five-year contract to succeed Sir Alex and will include former United player Phil Neville in his staff. Moyes, 50, is Ferguson’s fellow Scot who has been in charge of the Toffees since 14^th March 2002. Everton are sitting on the 6^th position in the current league table and it is rumored that Wigan’s coach, Roberto Martinez, may be Moyes’ successor at Goodison Park.

On behalf of all my fellow Manchester United fans, I take this opportunity to congratulate Sir Alex for the glory he has brought to the club in his 26-year reign as manager. “We shall miss you on the pitch Fergie, Fare thee well Sir Alex.”

Ferguson’s achievements with Manchester United:

Competition	Winning Year
Barclays Premier League	1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013
UEFA Champions League	1999, 2008
FA Cup	1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
League Cup /Capital One/ Carling Cup	1992, 2006, 2009, 2010
FA Charity / Community Shield	1990 (shared), 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011
UEFA Super Cup	1992
UEFA Cup Winners Cup	1991
FIFA Club World Cup	2008
Inter-Continental Cup	1999

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Inside the long holiday

My long thirst for a long holiday came to a halt in October last year after it was finally granted. Ever since I joined Moi University Main Campus in mid July 2011, a long vacation always meant ‘something for the others’ in my mind. It has always been a semester-to-semester transition scenario that posed a great doubt about any possibility of an academic rest. Rumors had it that our 2009 group would never see a long break before that which would send us to our practical attachments and internships, since the University’s double-intake issue affected the normal system.

However, good news came in, two or three weeks before the end of our second year of study, in September 2012 when the official time-table from the Chief Academic Officer, Deputy Vice Chancellor and other administrative personnel revealed something different. According to the time-table, our group, amongst others, was scheduled to break for the anticipated long vacation immediately after the end of semester two examinations. However, it was not so clear about when we would be expected back, with our top guesses hitting February, April, June and August 2013.

Just according to me, the most important thing about the long break was not just to have it. There were several things that I had already promised myself to undertake in the course of the break, so what was remaining was just to fulfill my schedule. As soon as I landed on my home soil, I began to reshuffle my schedule according to urgency and priority of individual activities. My strategy was not only to do what I wanted to do but also to avoid what I did not intend to do. Some of the things that I really tried to keep myself off from were informal political campaign rallies, petty demonstrations such as those usually organized by the Mombasa Republican Council and the likes. My top most aim was to get a peaceful job somewhere where I would earn something for myself.

October came to an end without any good job presenting itself to me. In November, I decided that I should not continue to depend entirely on my family for everything. I joined other village youths in some casual labor works such as digging water pipe trenches and house foundations which apart from getting me tired, gave me something to wait for another day with.

One of the activities that took away a substantial fraction of my body weight was digging a fish pond in a neighboring secondary school in my small village. The Ganze Constituency Development Funds committee had come up with a project of constructing up to thirty fish ponds in different learning institutions that had access to fresh water supply around the constituency. The ponds would then be used to rear varieties of fish, some of which would be included in the schools’ meals and others sold for the benefit of the schools. It just happened by chance that Sokoke Secondary School was selected as one of the beneficiaries of the project on 22^rd November, 2012. A notice was then issued to the area assistant chief to spread an informal advertisement that fourteen healthy men and women from the neighborhood would be assigned the duty of digging the dyke for the pond for a total pay of twenty-five thousand Kenya shillings to be shared.

The following morning, more than fifty people lined up at the venue, one of them being myself, waiting for the selection process. This great number of people threw some light in my mind that unemployment and poverty are still issues that require intervention in my area. I was just there to see how things would work, jokingly rather serious. The selection process began and almost half of the job hunters were knocked out in the first phase of presenting national identity cards. Illiteracy levels and ignorance are too rampant in my area that many residents do not bother about or even realize the importance of applying for such a crucial document. Or is it about awareness being too low? Anyway, twenty-seven candidates and I qualified for the next phase. In a bid to observe gender equity, the project supervisor granted the six women who were still legible a direct nomination because they would not even make half of the fourteen wanted. Now it was time for the twenty-two men to battle for the remaining eight posts. Thanks to the amazing grace of the lord, I made it through by correctly picking a highly folded small piece of paper that was written ‘YES’ instead of ‘NO’ in the inside.

Workers digging a dyke for fish pond construction - Sokoke

Work that had been estimated to take us around three days was completed in six serious working days. Are we giants to dig a dyke measuring 22 meters long, 17 meters wide and 1 meter deep in three days? The ground was hungry for rain. It was so dry and hard that you would wonder whether you were working in a quarry mine or stone cutting site. Digging was not the biggest trouble here, taking the soil out of where your fellow has dag was the smart problem. In the process, blisters developed on my hands until they got bored and stopped. My body ached anomalously but later adapted and saw no need of aching any more.

We did it by team work and although some of us provided lesser contributions compared to others, and the fact that some took longer periods of frequent resting than others, the mission was completed.

James Kombe, inside the completed dyke

At the end of the struggle, I felt exhausted but the 1,785 shillings that went into my pocket on December 2^nd gave me hope and was a major step towards facing the December celebrations including Christmas and eventually New Year parties which I celebrated with confidence and in style.

Ushering in the year 2013 seemed so smooth but the thought of what would happen next always game me rough moments. That is where I consulted my mobile phone book, called some of my classmates in a bid to inquire for a possible opening date but none of them appeared to have an idea and whoever mentioned a date was not any time earlier than April. I was just about to confront one of our county governor aspirants to ask for a position in his campaign team when I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to remain a distant away from political rallies.

Early February presented a small piece of blessing to me. My one time primary school-mate called me in the morning, not just for greetings as some individuals always do, but gave me some good news that one more teacher was required in the private secondary school where he had recently secured a teaching job.
Without any further hesitation, I quickly put my certificates together with the application letter and presented them to the interviewing panel of the school the following day and got the job.
Wednesday 6^th February, 2013 is the day I started teaching English language and Literature in Lakewood Green Olive High School for an undisclosed monthly earning which was obviously far much better than the fish pond thing. My letter of resignation from teaching in that school dates Friday 12^th April, 2013 which was also the official closing day for the first term. After all, I was expected back at Moi University the following Monday for my third year of study.