How Andika and Juma helped shape Sakari's career

Fast rising Kariobangi Sharks right back Daniel Sakari has hailed the influential impact of former teammates Gabriel Andika and David Juma on his budding career.

Back in the very first opening match of the 2018/2019 season, a young Sakari, who had just joined from Green Commandos, was handed his first ever top flight match in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League by the then Kakamega Homeboyz head coach Paul Nkata against league returnees KCB FC who had earned promotion back from the National Super League (NSL).

Not knowing how to handle the match the first time owing to his inexperience of having never played at the top level, Sakari was left bewildered with so many thoughts of how everything could go wrong, especially on his maiden appearance. The current Sharks defender reveals that it only took the intervention of Andika and Juma to ease him in and give him the much needed confidence to tackle the Bankers.

“I was named in the starting eleven by Nkata for the very first match just a few months after joining Homeboyz. The game was against KCB who had just returned from the NSL and had done many signings. I was just there not knowing what to do since I had never played in the top flight," he opens up,

"Before that I had talked to experienced players in David Juma and Gabriel Andika who were there at the time. They told me to take it easy in the first game and not to complicate things. They advised me to play simple; control then pass, just like that,"

"The first ten minutes of the game I was really tense. I kept asking myself what if I blunder. What if I score an own goal? Afterward I just doing what they told me and I settled in well. Before I realized, my confidence in the game grew and I started making runs forward to join in attack. Eventually we won the game 1-0. They really helped me at the start of my career,” Sakari narrates.

Out of the group of three players, it is only Juma who remained behind at Homeboyz. Daniel Sakari left for Kariobangi Sharks while Gabriel Andika now plays for the very opponents they beat in that season opener - KCB FC.