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Odemba dropped Patrick Matasi for the two games she took charge of Kenya Police on an interim basis, three months before he was caught in his alleged match-fixing ordeal.
Former Kenya Police FC interim coach Beldine Odemba has revealed the reasoning behind her high-stakes decision to drop veteran goalkeeper Patrick Matasi in November 2024 following a bad start to their 2024/2025 Premier League season — a move that proved pivotal in the club’s historic maiden title win.
Matasi, a vastly experienced goalkeeper who was in goal for Harambee Stars during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), was provisionally suspended by Football Kenya Federation last March after a video circulating online featured him appearing to conspire to fix a game alongside two unknown individuals.
Matasi had been making high profile errors over the last two years for both club and country. He famously let in a needless goal during a friendly match against Iran in March 2023, and also made more questionable blunders in a 4-0 loss to Cameroon last October.
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One of the key turning points came earlier this season in a Premier League tie against Kakamega Homeboyz. Matasi made yet another questionable mistake that led to a 1-1 draw—an error that left players and technical staff frustrated.
Speaking to NTV’s Sport On show last Monday, Odemba shared that the decision to bench Matasi in favor of second-choice custodian Job Ochieng was not premeditated but one driven by intuition after just one training session in charge.
“We only had one training session and a match the following day. I called the second goalkeeper and I could see something in his face,” Odemba said.
“After training, I told Cheche [David Ochieng] and Musa [Mohammed] — who was also present — that I was going with my gut feeling.”
Matasi had featured heavily under previous coach Salim Babu but had come under scrutiny as Police dropped critical points in the title race. Odemba, newly installed in the role, chose to act decisively.
“They may not have been comfortable with it, but I told them: allow me to go with my gut. They supported me — and the second goalkeeper kept a clean sheet.”
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Odemba, who has led the club’s women’s side Police Bullets to two back-to-back titles, stressed that her decision was not purely emotional — she had studied past performances and felt the change was necessary to reverse a slump.
“I had been watching the team’s matches. I saw the goals we were conceding,” she said. “If the issue isn’t with the first, second or third departments, it’s with the last — and that needed a change.”
She also handed a rare start to winger Erick Zakayo, who played his first full 90 minutes of the season under her watch.
“As a coach, you can train players all week, but sometimes you wake up with a feeling: ‘This has to change.’ That gut feeling works — 99 percent of the time,” she added.
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Odemba’s courageous call set the foundations for new permanent coach Etienne Ndayiragije to continue placing his faith in Ochieng, with Matasi subsequently release to Kakamega Homeboyz later than February, weeks before he was caught in a match-fixing ordeal.
Odemba, who became the second woman to guide a team in the top flight after FC Talanta’s Jackline Juma- albeit temporarily, emphasised the importance of reading more than just stats.
“We watch matches with our feelings — with a third eye,” she explained. “Sometimes decisions aren’t just about logic. It’s about what you sense and trust in that moment.”
The Kenya Police triumph, which saw the team clinch the league ahead of Gor Mahia, was aided by the return of key leaders such as Kenneth Muguna and David “Cheche” Ochieng — but it was Odemba’s fearless leadership - even of for just two games - that galvanized the squad.
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