Harambee Stars goalkeeper Patrick Matasi is caught in the middle of a match-fixing storm. A video is circulating on social media and captures the Kenya national team’s goalkeeper in a conversation with a man attempting to persuade him to engage in match-fixing.
Seated in a car, the man instructs Matasi while making enticing promises, as the seasoned goalkeeper appears receptive to his propositions.
The timing and location of the clip’s recording, as well as the details of the match at the centre of the scheme, remain uncertain. However, it leaves Matasi in an awkward position.
The 37-year-old goalkeeper recently parted company with Kenya Police to join Kakamega Homeboyz. The veteran goalie seemingly lost his place in the national team after his two errors in the AFCON qualifier against Cameroon last October. The Harambee Stars lost that game 4-1.
Since that error-prone outing in Yaounde, the former Tusker, AFC Leopards, and Posta Rangers goalkeeper has lost his place in the national team. When Benni McCarthy named his first Harambee Stars squad for clashes against Gambia and Gabon, he omitted the experienced goalie.
DETAILS OF MATASI’S CONVERSATION
In the conversation captured on video, the unidentified man says: “I repeat again before the boss, this is the first deal. You know how we have done this. I have never let you down, you have never let me down,” the man adds, seeming to suggest that they have done this kind of business before.
“With you, zero failure, right?” the man asks, to which the goalkeeper responds: “Yes.” “Whatever will be given to me, I will forward it to you straightaway. Immediately after I forward it, I will give you a phone call, and the boss will confirm that you have received it. Then the deal is on,” says the man.
The man explicitly tells the player what he wants. “That first half, bro, what we want must come,” he says, to which the player seems to agree.
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