Victor Wanyama

Victor Wanyama has spoken for the first time of the turmoil he went through trying to concentrate on football after hearing about the terrorist attacks in his hometown in Kenya.

The Southampton midfielder was having a pre-match meal ahead of their game at Liverpool when he received a call that terrorists had taken over a shopping centre in Naiirobi on September 27.
The atrocity saw 67 people killed and Wanyama admitted he feared for his friends and family so found it hard to concentrate on the game ahead. Southampton beat Liverpool 1-0 but Waynyama’s first priority afterwards was to contact his loved ones back home to see if they were alright.
He recalled: “It was a horrible moment. It was very difficult, so close to the game.

“My friend called me first. He said: ‘there are thieves in the Westgate shopping centre, they have hostages’. I thought ‘how can that happen?’ Then my cousin called. It was terrorists.
“That was the moment that made me worry because my thoughts turned to my family. He couldn’t tell me if everyone was OK because he was not at home. My family shop there, it is only ten minutes from my home. They could have been there.

“But when I rang home I found out everyone was OK. I didn’t have time to call my friends to ask them. It was too close to the match by that time.”
Victory at Anfield should be a memory for Wanyama to cherish, but now it is just a blur.
He told Football Focus: “It was very hard to play thinking of what was happening back home, knowing that people were suffering inside Westgate, possibly my friends. My brain was not in the game. I was just worried.”
Four weeks have since passed and in addition to the 67 deaths, many more were injured by Islamist terrorists. Wanyama is still struggling to make sense of what happened as it puts football into perspective.

Written by: Ray Ryan