Could it be? Is Kenya finally going to beat the odds and make it to the World Cup finals in Brazil in 2014?

It is sad that a football loving country like Kenya has never made it to the World Cup finals, the closest we’ve ever got to it was the third round of qualification.

Kenya is ranked 130th out of 208 national associations recognized by FIFA, just above Singapore and one below the Congo. So lowly are we ranked that Kenya will be forced to launch its campaign with a home and away playoff match with the Seychelles (we are considered the favorites, the Seychelles haven’t played in over two decades).

Should Kenya overcome Seychelles we’ll face a tough Group F consisting of our ‘stumbling block’ Nigeria, the ‘unpredictable’ Malawi and the winner between Djibouti and Namibia. Group winners will then proceed to the third and final qualification round of two-legged ties, the winners of the five groups qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

It will be a long and rough journey to the World Cup and it won’t help matters if we act all sulky and blame the management for a series of poor performances of our national team. We should continue giving our support to the Harambee Stars (and hope that the management will get their act together).

One day (who knows, maybe in Brazil?) we shall be in the World Cup. In the meantime we do well to learn from other successful teams on the continent like Ghana, Egypt and Ivory Coast.