Dennis Oliech - The Menacing Numbers

As Dennis Oliech announces his retirement, and with a testimonial due in June, tributes have flown in with many acknowledging him as perhaps one of the best footballers Kenya has ever produced. Indeed you mention Dennis Oliech and many will recall the 84^th minute goal vs Cape Verde in that July of 2003 that sent the country into a frenzy and fired us to AFCON after many years of missing out. We also cannot forget the last minute winner versus Angola at Nyayo Stadium after Manucho had cancelled out Patrick Oboya’s opener. Whereas some might feel that he could have achieved more at club level, there is no doubt that for the current generation of fans, he did carry the national team on his back on a number of occasions. Still there are murmurs from some quarters questioning Oliech’s achievements and put things in perspective, I have decided to compare his goal stats and caps with some of the best the country has ever produced.  While he never played for K'Ogalo, I think it is fine if this blog can digress and pay homage to the one they called 'the menace', a true hero and servant of the country. Can he measure up to the likes of Ambrose Ayoyi, J J Masiga, Wilberforce Mulamba, Musa Otieno, Allan Thigo, Ouma Chege and Mahmoud Abass or was he better than them?

It is commonly understood that Musa Otieno has the most senior caps for Kenya at 94. Very few players get capped for Kenya 70 times and I have tried to place where Denno would rank among Kenya’s finest with his 70 caps (Fostats lists him as having 74 caps but 4 of those were for the age group teams).

Rank	Player	Caps
1	Musa Otieno	94
2	Jonathan Niva	90
3	Allan Thigo	86
4	John Nyawanga	82
5	Titus Mulama	76
6	Francis Onyiso	72
7	William Ouma “Chege”	71
8	Dennis Oliech	70
9	James Siang’a Robert Mambo	69

Denno is indeed keeping company with some of this country’s finest, footballers who are considered legends of the game here.  His caps have included a remarkable 57 starts and 13 as a sub, mostly in his early days but including the famous win against Cape Verde.  As strikers come and go, only William Ouma “Chege” and John Nyawanga (played on the wings) made as many appearances.  

It is also quite well known that Oliech is one of the greatest scorers ever for Kenya and, expecting him to be at the very top, I placed him among other names that have been known to be prolific for the country.

Rank	Name (caps)	Goals
1	William Ouma “Chege” (71)	34
2	Dennis Oliech (70)	33
3	Ali Kajo (33)	26
4	Joe Kadenge (62) John Baraza (52)	23
6	Mike Okoth (54) Daniel Nicodemus (39) John Nyawanga (82)	18
9	Binzi Mwakolo (32)	15
10	Robert Mambo (69) Ambrose Ayoyi (60)	13

In the goal scoring charts Oliech is second only to the legendary William Ouma by a goal, with just about the same number of caps. None of the players in this list is currently active and so we must assume that Oliech’s name among the best will remain put for a very long time.

With these statistics, we can say Dennis certainly does deserve his testimonial.

PS: It has been recorded that Elijah Lidonde scored 28 goals that would put him just behind Oliech in the goal scorers charts but details of these are scanty and do not add up. His records will require verification.

 Pic: Getty Images