Tough task ahead for Gor Mahia in Dar es Salaam

How will Kenya’s premier league defending champions Gor Mahia fare when they take on Tanzania’s Yanga FC in their first match of this year’s CECAFA Kagame Cup championship on Saturday 18?

Last year, the club’s return to a tournament they last won in 1985 was quite a disastrous one, failing to win a single match as they bowed out in the group stages.

This year though appears more promising, with the club fondly called Kogalo by its diehard supporters having strengthened in all departments. The acquisition of Meddie Kagere has bolstered a forward line that also boasts of the sharp shooting Michael Olunga, while the pair of Karim Nizigiyamana and Abouba Sibomana have made the team’s defence impenetrable to opposing attackers.

Meanwhile, Uganda’s Godfrey Walusimbi appears to be getting better on the left wing and the duo of  Collins “Gattuso” Okoth and Khalid Aucho (acquired from Tusker FC in the off-season, have made Gor’s midfield performances much more assured.

All this progress, however, will be severely tested on Saturday by the might of Tanzania’s Yanga FC. Not only is the Tanzanian club ranked in the same league of accomplishment as Gor Mahia, the team enjoys as fanatical a following in Tanzania as Gor does in Kenya.

Add to that the fact that Tanzania’s fans are more “real stadium” football supporters than their Kenyan counterparts and you begin to worry for a Gor team entering a capacity filled 60,000-seater stadium on Saturday afternoon to face an accomplished opponent on home soil.

Perhaps it is with this in mind that Gor’s Coach Frank Nuttal has adopted a cautious and modest approach heading to the tournament, telling local media that he was not thinking too much about the team’s performance beyond the group stages.

“We just want to try to give our best and the priority is to go past the group stages, so it means we have to do well in the early matches,” the coach told Daily Nation Sport a few days ago.

Whatever the coach’s expectations, the team had better perform better than they did last year in Rwanda. First of all, a poor performance in Dar es Salaam will most certainly affect the team’s current momentum, which has seen them sweep every one coming their way in local football - like a tsunami, to borrow a favourite metaphor of the club’s patron, Hon. Raila Odinga.    

Secondly, the team should do well in Tanzania to end the prevailing impression that Kenya’s football league is weaker than regional and continental ones, which is supported by the constant whipping that local football clubs receive whenever they venture beyond Kenyan borders.

Lest we forget, Tusker FC was the last Kenyan club to win the CECAFA Kagame Cup way back in 2008 under coach Jacob “Ghost” Mulee when they beat Uganda’s Uganda Revenue Authority FC in Dar es Salaam.

Harambee Stars need to improve before Zambia come calling

Kenya's national football team Harambee Stars has left a lot of 'ifs' in the minds of long suffering fans following the team's recent performances.

First, a commendable performance against Congo in the African Cup of Nations 2017 qualifiers was nullified by poor defending and wasteful finishing. If Harambee Stars' defender Jackson Saleh had not needlessly conceded a penalty and had Kenya's strikers been more clinical, the team would have returned from Congo with all three points.

It was a strange case of de javu that during Kenya's next match, an away Champions of African Nations 2016 qualifier against Ethiopia, defender Saleh conceded a second consecutive penalty in a game Kenya lost 2-0. However, the talking point of the game is that if forward Kevin Kimani had not fluffed Kenya's own penalty opportunity, the national team would have returned from Ethiopia with the advantage of an away goal.

Instead, the team faced a defensive-minded Ethiopia in the return match at home with the disadvantage of needing to score three clear goals to progress further in the tournament reserved for home based players. When the gods of good fortune presented Kenya with a sniff of opportunity towards this end, Gor Mahia's Ali Hassan Abondo repeated Kevin Kimani's act by wasting Kenya's penalty chance.

Had these two penalty opportunities been converted, Kenya would have knocked out Ethiopia due to the away-goal rule. But it was not to be and the team has gone back to the drawing board to scheme how to beat Zambia, Kenya's next Afcon opponents.

Zambia is a far more superior team but the fact that the match will be happening in Nairobi should feed every one concerned with a dose of optimism that Kenya can secure the first win in the tournament and put smiles on the faces of fans who have been hurt far too many times.

Needless to say, coach Bobby Williamson must plug the team's defensive and attacking weaknesses before the September match day for that to happen. Let us hope it shall not be another case of 'ifs' and regrets.

Gor Mahia must have plan B

The colourful green army of Gor Mahia was in full display at Nyayo Stadium as Kogalo sought to claim another scalp in their seemingly unstoppable march towards the Tusker Premier League 2015 title.

Their opponents this time were Mathare United who, though placed tenth in the premier league log, appeared not to have read the script and confidently gave back every thing Gor threw at them. It therefore came as no surprise when the slum boys became the first team to score against Gor since the defending champions last conceded a goal way back in April 2015.

Although Gor were the fastest off the blocks, launching several lightening attacks against their opponents, Mathare United eventually settled down and efficiently executed their game plan of closing out striker Michael Olunga and rendering Gor’s wing play ineffective. With all the dominance of Gor in terms of ball possession, Mathare’s keeper Peter Odhiambo remained largely untested in the first half.

Even as they stayed back to absorb Gor’s pressure, Mathare launched occasional counter attacks mainly through stylish forward Eric Johana, who proved he was a growing force in Kenyan football with confident, creative displays against Gor’s defenders. In the 28th minute, he timed his run perfectly to reach a through ball which he confidently slotted past an on-rushing Boniface Oluoch.

Even a much more determined performance at the start of the second half could not breach a well organised Mathare United defence, until Enock Agwanda was brought on by Coach Frank Nuttal. Although the former Sofapaka man is well known for his powerful and energetic runs against opposing defenders, it was his throwing skills that Gor fans seem to have fallen in love with.

Every time the ball went out, the fans screamed wildly for Agwanda to take the throw in. The striker obliged and took two quick throw-ins in succession, the first one destabilising Mathare’s defence, and the second one resulting in Gor’s equaliser via striker Meddie Kagere’s header.

Is this Gor’s plan B? Being the defending champions and as the only unbeaten team in the league, Gor must surely know that every team is now baying for their blood, seeking to become the first team to bring the “Mighty  Kogalo” back down to earth. Every coach in the league must be doing extra home work to discover how they can capitalise on any weakness to tame them.

From Mathare’s display, it appears that this may not be that far off. The champions’ prolific striker Olunga remained largely anonymous, with his two clear chances of the game coming late in the match when Mathare had apparently relaxed their game plan.

Gor Mahia must have another strategy, a plan B, other than solely depending on launching passes to Olunga to knock in or relying on crosses coming in from the team’s wingers. But that plan B should not, surely, be Agwanga’s long throw-ins into opponents' goal area.

The team’s true strengths will soon be tested as they head to Tanzania for the CECAFA Club championships starting in Dar es Salaam in the next one week.