There are all sorts of reasons why football teams lost matches, that are mostly to do with a failure of the coach or the players, but sometimes fans are keen to blame bad omens.
Some Kenyans, reflecting on their nation's 2-0 defeat to Algeria in their opening Afcon match, think former Prime Minister Raila Odinga is a bad omen. He was in Egypt to watch the match.
Before the game, one Twitter user flagged up the potential problem:
Mary Njoroge@Maryiana96
This one will mess things up... Raila is a bad omen.. I just hope all will be well... #ALGKEN
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After Sunday's game people were asking for the president to act. This tweeter said. in both English and Swahili, that he had to do something immediately:
MR.Kipkurui-Kapchumbe™ @PkiruiKapchumbe
mungeweza despite the fact that Raila ___________________________.think twice. https://twitter.com/harambee__stars/status/1142913280756920321?p=v …
Harambee Stars@harambee__stars
F.T
Algeria 2-0 Kenya#Tunaweza
Good Timing @wilfred_yego
President Uhuru should recall Raila from Egypt with immediate effect. Yaani mara moja.#HarambeeStars
But others have pointed out that Kenyans should focus on the players' performances first:
Chilal@cwyyell
#AFCON2019 #HarambeeStars
Dear Kenyans, Raila Odinga was not one of the eleven players-quit blaming him for the lose.
Thanks.
Mr Odinga himself did not address the question of his impact. In a post-match tweet he told the team to "keep your heads up and keep going" and goes on to say in Swahili "sliding is not falling":
Raila Odinga?@RailaOdinga
After a 15 year absence from the tournament you played your hearts out but didn't get a favorable result. Keep your heads up and keep going, kuteleza sio kuanguka. The whole nation is still rooting for you #HarambeeStars all the best in the rest of your #AFCON2019 fixtures.
10:13 PM - Jun 23, 2019
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