Part 2 of DCU: Past and Present Interviews: Guy Roland Kpene

By: jon | December 11th, 2008

That’s right. Our very own, Baby Drogs. In 2007, Guy Roland Kpene made 16 appearances for the Black and Red, scoring no goals, but making plenty of plays happen. In the beginning of 2008, Guy was let go and later signed with Houston.

I recently got a chance to ask him a few questions, and here are his answers. Enjoy!

Kpene: Thanks Jon for giving me a chance to express myself, as we say back home it is never too late.

The Offside: I think the question everyone wants answered the most has to be, what happened with DC? It looked like you had the third forward job sewn up coming into camp…the Washington media (Ok, Steve Goff IS the DC media) was attributing it to coming to camp out of shape…what’s your side of the story?

Kpene I did not come back to preseason in the best shape, but trust me there were a lot of big names behind me. I won’t mention names, but the real problem was that they had a new forward who was ahead of me for no apparent reason. I could not understand that, (he was) definitely not fit than me, not stronger, not faster, nothing but maybe (he) came from a bigger soccer country, he would make 4 times more money, have more playing time and the last thing was that I had to go back to developmental (salary). I owe a lot to DCU and I do respect the organization but I had my pride or maybe dignity, and I was not going to go through that. I’m lucky enough to be able to live decently without that small wage, but it was more about the decision they took. But after reflecting, I know I made a mistake, and DCU too, it’s one of those beautiful unions that end prematurely, still a DCU at heart. VAMOS UNTED

The Offside- What’s your current status with Houston?

Kpene: I am leaving. I did not fit into their style of play, and I remember both coaches complaining in training about how I played like a DCU player, short passes and technical. I’ve got some trials in Switzerland and Belgium coming up.

The Offside: You showed great pace, and some skillfull passing in your time with DC. The first game I attended (I think was against Houston), you were doing fantastic and I started to pay a little more attention to you after that. Your scoring record was phenomenal in college. Would you say you were just snake bitten at the MLS level, and would have eventually found the net if given some more minutes?

Kpene: I know I can definitely score goals in this league, but for some reason it did not happen with DCU. It still hurts me today because I think that is the only thing I did not do for the team, and I am a striker. I don’t know why it happened; maybe the playing time, maybe my role in the team. I don’t know.

The Offside: Is the number 99 choice an homage to Jaime? Or just thought it was a cool number to have?

Kpene: I always say it to everybody, Jaime is the best player I’ve ever played with. He is very professional and off the field, (he’s) a great character and i like his pranks. It is an homage to him.
I’ve got an anecdote… After a game against Colorado, Christian (Gomez) and Facundo (Erpen) asked me why I had #99 and they were laughing at me, because they knew why.

The Offside: I read that you’re a big Drogba fan…what do you think of his season so far, and do you think Chelsea will win any silverware this year?

Kpene- Didier is my favourite player, he’s got a lot of injuries this year, but he is back. He is gonna have a good season and I know that Chelsea will be champion this year.

The Offside: This is a question I’m going to ask everyone I interview from now on, as I play Fifa 09 a lot, and I think it’s fun to ask. Do you play as yourself a lot? Do you think they rated you fairly? Do you think that you look like you?

Kpene: Last year I used to do that a lot, I would say they rated me fairly last year, as a rookie it was fine. That is me in the game, long permed hair or yellow this year. I’m so happy about that.