Psalm 19

  The heaven declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his 

hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display

knowledge.

There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard. 

Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the 

sun, 

which is like a bridegroom coming forth

from his pavilion,

like a champion rejoicing to run his 

course.

It rises at one end of the heavens

and makes its circuit to the other;

nothing is hidden from its heat.

The law of the LORD is perfect, 

reviving the soul. 

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, 

making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right,

giving joy to the heart. 

The commands of the LORD are a radiant, 

giving light to the eyes. 

The fear of the LORD is pure, 

enduring for ever. 

The ordinances of the LORD are sure

and altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold,

than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey, 

than honey from the comb.

By them is your servant warned;

in keeping theme there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors?

Forgive my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins;

may they not rule over me.

Then will I be blameless, 

innocent of great transgression.

Ma the words of y mouth and the 

meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.  

Psalm 121

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills - 

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the  LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip- 

he who watches over you will not

slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you-

the LORD is your shade at your right

hand:

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm-

he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and 

going

both now and for evermore.

Psalm 8

PSALM 8

O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the 

earth!

You have set glory 

above the heavens.

From the lips of children and infants 

you have ordained praise

because of your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the

heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and 

honour.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

you put everything under his feet:

all flocks and herds,

and the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air,

and the fish of the sea, 

all that swim the paths of the seas,

O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the 

earth!

Psalm 103

Psalm 103

Praise the Lord, O my soul all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits

who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the 

eagle's

The LORD works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed. 

He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel:

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, 

slow to anger, abounding in love. 

He will not always accuse, 

nor will he harbour his anger for ever;

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear

him;

as far as the east is from the west, 

so far has he removed our 

transgression from us. 

As a father has compassion on his 

children,

so the LORD has compassion on those 

who fear him;

for he knows how we are formed,

he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more. 

But from everlasting to everlasting

the Lord's love is with those who fear 

him.

and his righteousness with their 

children's children - 

with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts.

The LORD has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the LORD, you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his bidding,

who obey his word.

Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,

you his servants who do his will. 

Praise the LORD, all his works 

everywhere in his dominion. 

Praise the LORD, O my soul. 

Week 3 - Final Squad selection 16th to 23rd September

I made it to the final 29 man squad for the first team. It has been a gruesome tough 3 weeks of serious fitness training and selection by the coaches. The final squad was announced today. The coaches approached me and asked me whether I would be available full time for the squad.

It felt great especially for the fact they came to me personally. It shows the amount of respect they have for you and the faith they have in you. Now to commit and return the favor and deliver results. I thought I would be drafted as a defender but I managed to prove myself as a midfielder and get the nod.

Some guys got cut especially because we were a huge number. From 46 to 29 . Now the quality gets better and competition higher. Next step is to fight for a first 11 position. #DreamBigPlayHard

Week 1 training Summary September 2nd - 9th 2016

The body is adapting well to the sessions. So far so good. Today we had a serious morning session where we played possession games before moving to competitive matches later on. The coach started me in central midfield for the first game. Then moved me on to the central defense for the second game. It seems this new coach has those two preferences for me to play.

The week has been tough given the fact that we had a 3 week break so at the moment. Most of the training has been jump starting the engine and body so that it can perform well. All in all it has been good.

Our first competitive game is tomorrow against Zetech College. So today its just resting and preparing mentally for tomorrows game. We are currently ranked position 8 though we have some games in hand. We need to win and play as a team tomorrow and do our best.

I will carry my video camera tomorrow and get clips of my match highlights.

Cheers for now.

Back to Training

This is the first week of training for this semester. It has been tough given that we had a three week break from competitive play and training. The coaches have mostly been concentrating on our speed and lots of running to increase our stamina and prepare for this weekends coming league games.

There are some new players on the team. Some are really good at least this will improve the quality of the team and increase competition among the players for starting positions. My goal this semester is to be on the first 11. To be a constant and consistent start for the remain leg of the season even as we prepare for the KUSA ( Kenya University Sports Association) games.

The new coach played me at center back on Wednesday even though that's not my natural position. Nevertheless we managed to keep a clean sheet. Today we had some core workouts to cover then we divided into teams and played a simulation match. I scored a penalty.

Tomorrows session is more of tactics and game play to prepare for the Saturday game and come up with a team for it. Can't wait to play. Am feeling super energetic and excited.

Next week should be serious running drills. I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes.

The Weekend that Was

Goals - the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.

We played really well this weekend. On Saturday we won 2-0 against Zetech University. The second goal we scored was spectacular... Totally something to write home about those goals that you live to tell your great grandchildren about. Goals that are undeniable awesome. Oh, how I wish I had a camera and recorded it for you guys to be able to see.
Enough talking about it... 
 
So we are leading 1-0 into the second half of the game midway we get a free kick close to the half pitch ( the center circle where kick off takes place) . I central defender steps up to take it. The distance is so far from the opponents post so the opposing goal keeper doesn't require a wall to protect him. Plus this goal keeper was big and had good reflexes noted from the shots he had saved earlier on from our strikers' attempts. 



Our defender started calling out our wingers name indicating that he would cross to him so he had to prepare himself for a header or something. The goal keeper on the other hand was quickly dishing out instructions to his defenders to mark the player who was being called. Little did he know he had stepped out of his box and left his goal post unmarked probably. I mean who would even dare shoot from that distance only guys like David Beckahm or Juninho or Ronaldinho. Like in this goal he scored against England it was unforgettable:

So picture this half way goal but now as a free kick of the above video that's how awesome it was. The below video just summaries everything for me. Talk about technique and guts. I could imagine what the coach would have said if he missed it.

Sunday was almost disastrous because we threw a 1-0 lead to NYS late in the second half by gifting them a penalty due to an intentional handball from the same player who was the star on Saturday. How ironic. He wins us the game on Saturday and costs us the game on Sunday. It happened like this a cross was made into our box the goalkeeper got off his line and came to collect it but missed. One of the opponents strikers got the ball. There was a scramble in the box as we tried to block him from getting a shot off. We were unlucky. He shot the ball and then the unthinkable happened........


The ball was heading straight into our post we had 3 defenders rushing to save it with their heads of course because if anyone touched it would be a  penalty. No sooner could you say that June first is a holiday our defender jumped thinking he was "maradona" (hand of god defender style though) brought the ball back down with his hands.

Something like this but in our case he was standing. He was given a straight red card and a direct penalty kick. And that is how the cookie crumbled and NYS equalized.

There was drama that came up afterwards about how the coach made the wrong substitutes. How he shouldn't have made changes to the back line but at the end of the day he is the one in charge and decides what will happen.

I can't wait till next weekends games. Till then #DreamBigPlayHard

Victory #1

The last time I wrote was in 2015. It has definitely been a long time. A lot has happened. I recovered from the injury, I am just about to finish my college education, I am about to decide whether to play professional or not, my leg got better, the Euros are coming up so a lot is happening.

This year is going pretty fast if you haven't noticed. It's now May 26th 2016 so if you haven't got to your new years resolution I suggest you do so because after today there are 219 days remaining. If you started somewhere in January and stopped in February I suggest you pull up your socks and get back to it. This is because there is nothing as bad as giving up. That brings me to the theme of today's blog post #VICTORY

Victory is defined as winning, success, triumph ,overcoming defeat,conquest and the list of definitions goes on and on and on.

This picture just sums it up for me:

Boy doesn't it feel good to win and be victorious. Quick images that come to mind are all the different league winners in the different football leagues around the world.








In the EPL ( English Premier league) we had the fairy tale story of Leicester city winning the trophy.

BayernMunich the Bundesliga winners

Barcelona the La Liga winners

The biggest question that comes to mind is what makes these guys winners and victorious? Winning the league is not easy. It's definitely not a one game tournament. Are there life lessons we can learn from these guys. Let's see if there any characteristics that could make one win and become victorious.

First and foremost they have a GOAL i.e. a set target. Got to rush to class will post more later today in the evening.

Rehab #2

X - rays 

So I went back to the pitch before time and ended up re- injuring myself. Now I have to recover from scratch all over again. The positive thing though is this time I am using professional help. I went and got scanned to check if any bones were broken. Thank God nothing was broken. The doctors assessment was that I got a serious sprain and I tore some ligaments so I had to rest first and do some rehab exercises once the pain diminishes.






The worst thing about this injury is that I have not been able to play football for around 3 weeks now.
The positive thing though is that my body has had a chance to rest and I have had time to reflect on how I train.

Some advise I got from the Nike Academy Coaches was the following:

The early stage of recovery should be dictated by your physiotherapist. This includes RICE principles.In your late stages of rehab you can focus on stability. Patterning the ankle again through weight bearing lunges and step up to balance will help you.They will train proprioception and improve stability.

So rehab exercises begin today again.

#DreamBigPlayHard

Rehab #1

It's the beginning of February got a nasty injury in the middle of January and am starting my rehab program this week. It's quite easy to get depressed when your not doing what you really love but the advantage is that you get a great chance to reflect and plan on how to do things better next time and protect yourself from injury.

It's not easy because one is really tempted to get back on the pitch yet the leg has not recovered completely. Thus the risk of getting injured again is high. This is where one is encouraged to have other hobbies to take their mind off the injuries and recover well.

It's valentines month by the way :-) :-) .

#DreamBigPlayHard

All Things Work Together For Good

Romans 8:28-30 (NIV)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

I was to be in Brazil from the 16^th to the 22^nd so I would be coming back to Kenya from tomorrow.  This was a missionary trip that coincided with the 2014 World Cup.

When volunteers for this trip were being looked for I had no idea I would sign up. In fact I was not interested because there was no way I could raise the air fare which at that time was $1570.  So I was content with watching and experiencing the world cup here at home in Kenya. Oh what a surprise when my parents asked for the flier and told me to pursue the idea. 

There were so many things going on in my mind

First of all I was not a missionary. Secondly where would the money come from? Thirdly I have never been on a plane before.  Fourthly where would I get pocket money. Fifthly when and how would I learn Portuguese? So I prayed about it and began the process of getting all the necessary information and document s to prepare for the trip including doing my own research on the place we were to go and how to evangelize. In less than 1 week all my fears were no more.

So I got everything including the air ticket paid in full. My work was now to wait for the visa board the plane and go spread the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.  With this knowledge that I was guaranteed  to go, I went and told the whole world “ninapanda ndege kuenda Brazil” ( I am going to board a plane to go to Brazil)Trust me I told the whole world.

 It started with my family, then the friends who would be praying for me as I was on the mission, then my team mates both current and former, then my coaches, then twitter and then Facebook. I even started a mini count down to the World Cup.

From this eventful adventure of telling everyone that I was going to Brazil everyone thought I am going to play football or to watch the world cup. You should have seen the look on their faces when I told them I am going as a missionary. Most were like how come your not going to Turkana or something? Why Brazil? My response was simple I do not know but all I know is that everyone needs Jesus even the Brazilians and everyone attending the world cup.

Then there were the crazy requests from some of my friends. 

“Eliud when you go please come back with Brazilian hair for me.”

“Eliud make sure you do not come back empty handed you guy, buy for me soccer boots and bring the brazuca with you too (World Cup ball) “

The Brazilian hair request made me laugh silly. How on earth I, a dude walk in a shop even here in Nairobi to go ask for hair….. Never .I do not think I will ever do it. So that ends there.

The one for shoes and the brazuca got me all excited because deep within I was imagining how I would use my juggling and football skills to get the attention of a scout and also to minister. So I went to OLX (an online shop like eBay) searching for the cost of  chutiera (shoes in Portuguese)  in Brazil.

The cost was the same no big difference. So I resolved to do all my shopping here and when  I would get to brazil it was strictly mission work.

Things in Brazil started becoming crazy, strikes and protests from teachers, bus drivers and even the police. So you can imagine what was happening here on my side. Serious prayer and fasting so that everything could be okay and we could get to travel. Things got worse and eventually our host sent a letter of cancellation.

It was unbelievable I was like :

“What! How?”

 “I have already paid…. God I have prayed and I have fasted… I have told everyone I am going… I have done my shopping already….  Lord I am ready”

There was depression, confusion and embarrassment all together at once.

 There was depression because I was really looking forward to the trip and boarding a plane for the first time and playing football with the Brazilians (inventors of the samba).  I was confused because I had planned how I would blog about it from there and now I did not know what was next.. Embarrassment because I had told the whole world I am going. So in short it was a big disaster.

But remember that verse I shared at the beginning:

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.

I ended up getting a blogging job for this world cup and I did not have to travel to Brazil I could just watch the games from home and blog about it. Here is the link to an article I have written : 

My pal came from the States and brought me new boots and an official world cup match ball. That was really awesome.  I got to meet his family too and talk about Christ and football .I need to check up on him. 

I bet your wondering what happened next our mission trip has been rerouted to the UK.

Right now all I can do is wait and see what’s next and prepare my mind and heart to serve.  God is good all the time and that is His nature and indeed His love endures forever.  No matter how hopeless the situation looks like God is in control. He loves us so much that He gave us his only begotten son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins so that we can gain salvation and live free.

My lost Phone

The lost and found phone.

The inspiration to write this has been fuelled by the past two weeks occurrences. A tournament I played at Sadili Sports Club,my journey home and the complete effects of this obsession I have with #DreamBigPlayHard but most of all the great commission (Matthew 28:16-20) I have to begin with a disclaimer though I am not a qualified Pastor or religious leader so feel free to correct me in the comment box below.

The tournament was great everyone was scared of us cause some of my team mates are well known and I think they have been reading my blog and tweets about training. Any way the first game we drew two all,the second game we drew again nil nil this time and the third game we won taking us to the second round. In the second round things got tough.

 I can not fail to emphasis the value of prayer in terms of countering anxiety and ultimately building you up as a Christian. More so your faith in God, because how else do you speak to God if you do not pray literally i.e. Black and White without hiding and without being ashamed of His power and completely having faith in God. My basis for this paragraph is :

Philippians 4:6-11

 (NIV)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

So we ended up being eliminated in the quarter finals through penalties. So the usual depression that occurs post game especially after a loss.(Arsenal fans know this too well and Manchester United fans together with Dortmund are the latest victims) It's a game it's that simple whether your earning millions or playing for free do not let evil overcome you but overcome evil with good. The cool thing about the loss is that even after it we still prayed and thanked God for the loss and reflected on our weaknesses too as individual players and as a team. 

Quickly fast forwarding to the phone: After we bid each other farewell, I went home with one of my team mate using a matatu where we were seated at the front next to the driver. Of all coincidences the driver was a former opponent who we played against some time back (like 2years ago). We shared with him how we were from a tournament.As any normal person who is not interested in a conversation I started texting my friends talking to some about the world cup and how it's like 40 something days to go and others how the game was. The texting continued for a while as I still talked with the driver and my team mate.Talk about being a super multitasker :-)  . ( Fact you can not serve two masters  plus it is well researched that men are poor at  multitasking)

I liked the two verses below they hit the nail on the head.Different writers same message.

Matthew 6:24

 (NIV)

 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Luke 16:13

(NIV)

¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Talking and texting is not good one of the two suffers and ends up not being done well. I wish I knew and acted upon this then. 

As the journey continued I had to reach into that secret pocket in jeans where coins are stashed to pay for my fare. No sooner could I say Arsenal are winning the league than I dropped my phone (points) and had no idea it was dropped. Heck the conversation with my team mate and the bus driver just continued. I arrived home safe.

This has nothing to do with this story it's just to capture your attention

During supper time with the family I started checking for my phone wondering why my texts had not been replied (we all dislike slow texters) then that's when it hit me..... You do not have your phone.So I did the usual back tracking of my steps checking the clothes I had worn during the day and the bag used. My final conclusion was that the phone was probably where I had last used it, that is in the matatu front seat, next to the driver and my friend. Logical solution the phone had fallen. 


All this time as I think  my family is calling me to the table to sit down pray and eat supper because guys were really hungry and some wanted to sleep it was already past 9pm. So we seat down and bow down to pray and I blurt out "I don't have my phone please pray with me I get it back and find it"  Wait do not judge me I was judged enough on that table by the eyes I got just because I said that. 


I knew a phone was a "thing" but still I valued it a lot and trust me it's not an i-phone or Blackberry or anything expensive in fact the phone costed me less than Sh.3000.00 and it does not have Internet.


Why I valued the phone a lot: 

• That weekend I had just opened a new bank account and the passwords were to be sent to me via text they call it mobile banking.
• There were so many contacts I had.
• I just like my phone it's simple and does not have many issues.
• I find it cool texting in pink.
• I dislike touch screens. 
• People are more important than phones.

My brother offered to pray. Immediately after the prayer my mom suggested I should call it (thank God for mum) and see whether it had been turned off. It was the weekend the driver would be probably busy or some passenger would have seen it, slipped it in his pocket and gone with it,or some "entrepreneur" would want to take the spare parts and making something new. I mean so many theories were in my head but there was that verse in Philippians then another one from Ephesians 6 that I desperately clung to.

Ephesians 6:18 

(NIV)
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

I hung on to the "all kinds of prayers and requests"  and went for it with all my heart and mind. I called my phone and lo and behold someone answered it. It was the driver I recognised his voice... Thank God! Prayer does work and more so Faith in God and what He has said in His Word.

Talked with him and he said "Ntakuwekea poa msee usijali" (I will keep it for you well do not worry) . 
My Brain took over again - what the heck does he mean by that,does he want some sort of reward or is will he actually put the phone well for me???

To cut the long story short it took four days to get the phone back and mental trauma with the bank stuff and all. I did not pay him a single cent. How was this possible??? Simple I serve a big God :-) who cares for me so much.

One last thing you should know I was going everyday to the stage to see if I would meet the driver but I never saw him not even once in those 4 days. A pal of mine criticised me telling me that was lack of faith because I had already prayed. People having faith does not mean being irresponsible or mystical.

James 2:14 - 26

(NIV)
 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  

 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
 
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?


Those verses capture the point quite well. In conclusion I got the phone back in one piece after four days and all the glory belongs to God. He is always on time. 





 

Der Kaiser

 

Der Kaiser is a German phrase meaning The Emperor and that was Franz Beckenbauer's nickname. He has been praised for great vision on the football pitch and an undying desire to win. Speaking of winning this past weekend I participated in a tournament where we got eliminated in the quarter finals it was quite painful because one of my team mates missed their penalty.
We were the better team and we deserved to win but that's football for you any one can be beaten even the one's who deserve to win ask Arsenal, Barcelona and Manchester United fans.


 

Back to Der Kaiser he got this name from a journalist and soon after he became the captain of Bayern Munich in the 1968 -1969 season where he lead them to the Bundesliga title and became German footballer of the year. From the videos I have seen of him he is quite good at dribbling and he played as libero i.e a deep lying playmaker just like Pirlo. I play as an attacking midfielder more up front but the great similarity is the vision. You have to have the greatest eyes, control and passes to play in these positions.

Most of the time you find the players playing this position are the team captains e.g. Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Xavi just to mention a few.

Another thing I have learnt from Der Kaiser is tackling.... When you tackle you tackle hard and strong so that the opponent does not come and try anything again. It sounds a bit too much but it's the passion any slight mistake or missed tackle and boom your scored.

Der Kaiser represents domination at it's best which naturally became part of his team's culture (Bayern Munich) . He played for them for around 20 years. If you see Bayern's game most of the time when they win they win with more than 2 goals. Especially these last two seasons they have dominated World football like no one's business. Currently they have already won the Bundesliga and last week they eliminated Manchester United from the Champions League.

I am amazed at how Pep Guardiola has managed to maintain the winning culture at Bayern Munich. The interesting fact though is that during his time as a player he played in the same position as Der Kaiser. So it seems there is a big correlation towards that position and the ultimate performance of a team. Maybe I should switch roles and take on more responsibility not just in attacking but also in defending and mainting the whole balance of the team....

But I need to mature first, that role requires a lot of experience and composure. These are the next two things I need to work on. So the big question as to why Der Kaiser is among the best???? It is quite simple. He has won the World cup which is now around 1 month and a some days away. He has won the Champions League, German Bundesliga, German Pokal and the Ballon d'or. In short he has won almost everything here is a full list I got it from wikipedia Franz_Beckenbauer

Honours

Player

Bayern Munich

• Bundesliga:
• DFB-Pokal: 
• European Cup: 
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 
• Intercontinental Cup: 

Hamburger SV

• Bundesliga:

New York Cosmos

• North American Soccer League
• Trans-Atlantic Cup

West Germany

• FIFA World Cup
• UEFA European Championship

Manager

Marseille

• Ligue 1

Bayern Munich

• Bundesliga
• UEFA Cup

West Germany

• FIFA World Cup: 1990

Individual

• Ballon d'Or
• FIFA Presidential Award
• UEFA President's Award
• FIFA Order of Merit
• FIFA Centennial Player and Football Personality Award
• Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award
• Marca Leyenda
• World Cup Young Player of the Tournament
• World Cup Silver Ball
• FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
• FIFA 100
• World Cup Team of the Tournament
• Regionalliga Süd
• UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament
• German Footballer of the Year
• NASL Most Valuable Player Award
• World Soccer Magazine Player of the Year
• FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
• ‏World Team of the 20th Century
• FIFA World Cup Dream Team

Civil

• Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Bavarian Order of Merit
• Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Honorary Golden Coin of the City of Munich
• Honorary Doctor of the National Sports Academy
• Commanders' Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Lower Saxon Merit 1st Class
• Order of Merit of the State of North

When I said everything I meant everything from as a player to civil awards to even as a manager I just have to meet this guy one day Germany here I come. I wonder if this years National mannschaft will go far in the world cup and be inspired by his legacy

World Cup Fun Facts.

So for me it seems the world cup fever caught me quite early. The event is more than 60 days away and I am already blogging about. Lets say I am motivated due to the fact that I will attend it for the first time in my life as a missionary. Yes Christians watch football too and enjoy the world cup. It has been so exciting till I have had to postpone my German exam to June.

Group tables from Bleacher

What is this thing called the FIFA World Cup? It is the biggest football competition on Earth. Every four years, 32 national teams take part in the World Cup finals. This year the following teams will be taking part and are grouped to compete as follows:

Oh, how I wish one day Kenya participates. Or maybe I am part of the players who should be pushing the team to do it. Checking my age now and the next World Cup, I have the chance to play in two tournaments before I retire i.e. the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Pirlo

It will take a lot of hard work but I am ready to do my part in whatever role I will be playing ,most probably as an Attacking Midfielder/Holding Midfielder too bad Pirlo will have retired. I look up to him and would love to play against him.

Current World Cup design and Original design 

The ultimate prize is usually the FIFA World Cup Trophy made of pure gold. The first one was called the Jules Rimet Cup. There is an interesting story about how it was stolen you could read more about it on the following links:

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/20/newsid_2861000/2861545.stm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_of_the_Jules_Rimet_Trophy

There have been 19 World Cup tournaments and 8 teams have won the World Cup

BRAZIL	5
ITALY	4
GERMANY	3
ARGENTINA	2
URUGUAY	2
ENGLAND	1
FRANCE	1
SPAIN	1

“To hold the World Cup in my hands is one of the most incredible moments in my life.” Brazilian striker Ronaldo . I would definitely say the same thing too the World Cup trophy is huge I would be among the greats s. Very few players can boast of this I think less than 500.

From my little research there is only one player who has won as a team captain (1974) and later, as a coach (1990). That man is Franz Beckenbauer of Germany. I should read more about him.... Infact the next post will be about him I need to compare myself with him and see what made him to be such a great player. Here is a funny clip of him talking about aliens and how they are about to challenge us to a football match. 

The most fans that ever crammed into one stadium was 199,854 during the 1950 World Cup Final match between Brazil and Uruguay. The match was played in the Maracana Stadium in Brazil. I wonder how guys could even see the pitch. I hope there was no stampede or anything of the sort. 

That is enough for today I will write more another time. I just can't help but think what would happen if I played in the world cup and represented my country. The emotions, the preparation, the expectations all that combined to form pressure. But one thing about we footballers is that we thrive on pressure that is when we know how good we are. When everyone is watching you, you’re playing a better team and miraculously you beat them either by luck or skill. 

One way I handle the pressure is by remembering some verses Philippians 4:6-7 tells me: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

You could get more interesting stuff on the links down below:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_records
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup

Enjoy your day and make sure you #DreamBigPlayHard .