Sony Sugar look set to continue strong recovery away to Ushuru

Ushuru and Sony Sugar will both be looking for a win to lift them up the Sportpesa League Table when Kenya's premier league football action resumes on Saturday, July 2, 2016.

After a slow start to the season, Sony Sugar entered a strong period that saw the club recording an impressive five wins, one draw and two losses in the final eight matches before the Sportpesa Premier League took a break. The two losses were registered away to table toppers Gor Mahia FC and Mathare United, with the draw coming away to league leaders Tusker FC.

Clearly, they are a club that have regained their form and their climbing to ninth position is testimony of this fact. Their opponents for the sixteenth round of SPL matches, Ushuru, are only two points behind on 17 but currently in danger of slipping into the relegation zone. In their last eight matches, Ushuru have won two (away to Western Stima and at home to Homeboyz), drawn three and lost three, with two of the draws coming against powerhouses Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards.

Sony Sugar's away form has been poor, losing three, drawing three, and winning only one of their last seven away premier league matches. Ushuru, on their part have been stronger away from home. Only one of their four wins came at home, and four of their six losses were registered at home. Two of their seven home matches so far have ended in a stalemate.

The two clubs have met five times, with Sony Sugar winning three times and Ushuru winning the other two match ups. There have been no draws so far between the clubs. As things stand now, Sony Sugar will most likely win this tie.

Lessons from Harambee Star's win over Congo

After torturing Kenyan football fans for what has seemed like eternity, Harambee Stars yesterday finally put together a decent performance to beat Congo 2-1 in what was, unfortunately, a dead rubber encounter. For even with the victory, Kenya still remain rooted to the bottom of Afcon qualifiers group E with four points, a whole six points behind surprise group leaders and already qualified Guinea Bissau.

Long before the referee blew the whistle to kick off the Kenya-Congo tie, Harambee Stars' hopes of making it to Afcon 2017 in Gabon had been extinguished thanks to displays of mediocre football that left Kenya clutching to a single point after drawing 1-1 with Congo and enduring a three match loosing streak against Zambia (1-2) and Guinea Bissau (1-0; 0-1).

It is ridiculous that Guinea Bissau qualified for Afcon 2017 courtesy of the six points they snatched from Kenya. If we got just four of those points, we would be sitting a top group E, still firmly in contention for Cabon 2017. Instead, the underdogs from West Africa have benefitted from Kenya's generosity, in the process eliminating initial favourites Zambia and Congo.

So how did we finally manage to secure a victory after hundreds of football minutes of trying? It is interesting that Kenya's two goals (Ayub Timbe's equaliser and Eric Johanna's beautiful strike) came via lightning counter-attacking moves. It helped that Congo were themselves under pressure to attack Kenya to ensure they took the Afcon qualification battle to the final day in Brazzaville against Guinea Bissau.

Still, we have watched over and over as Kenya launched counter-attacks that died even before the ball had reached the centre of the field. What has been more familiar with Kenya's football in recent matches has been a bunch of 11 tippy-tappy individuals moving the ball around, as if wondering where the hell the opponent's goal posts had disappeared to.

Kenya's poverty in attacking football was still evident yesterday, considering that striker Olunga hardly had any meaningful strike on goal throughout the match. The difference this time round was that two counter-attacks were executed successfully, resulting in goals that won Kenya the tie.

Coach Stanley Okumbi and his technical staff should build on this win by ensuring that Kenya's rediscovered counter-attacking effectiveness is nurtured and employed more in the national team's football encounters.

Aside from the well-deserved victory, it was pleasant to witness an injection of new blood into the team in the form of promising Gor Mahia left back Eric 'Marcelo' Omondi and Spain-born Ismail Gonzales of CD Las Palmas. Omondi was especially exciting to watch and Gonzales showed flashes of brilliance and he could prove to be a mid-field gem for Kenya in future. More effort should be made to expand the talent-pool for the national team so that competition and depth can be guaranteed in the team.

From the border town of Isibania emerges a beautiful story of the beautiful game -Isibania FC

In mordern football, when we want to talk about real big football clubs, the choices are easy and obvious - Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich...those kinds of clubs.

On the pages of this blog, I have talked now and again about the giants of Kenyan football: Gor Mahia FC, AFC Leopards, Tusker FC, Mathare United, Ulinzi Stars, and Sofapaka.

The club I have never written about here, and so proudly do so today, is a little community club that shares a lot in common with me. I have yearned for when a football club from my home town would contest with the big boys and embarrass them. Now, it appears, my dream might come true soon.

If Isibania FC manage to sustain the momentum that has driven them to the summit of the Football Kenya Federation's Division One League Zone B standings, then in a matter of months, the huge army of Kogalo followers might find themselves making the long trip to the border town of Isibania to face my home town team.

Isibania is a small but vibrant border town at the south western tip of Kenya and is the gateway into the North Western and Western regions of Tanzania. You have to pass through Isibania to access the Tanzanian towns of Mwanza, Bukoba, Shinyanga and Musoma.

As an ardent football fan, am waiting to capture the making of history when this little football club, formed only a few years ago, starts receiving the giants of Kenyan football and, hopefully, teaching them a few football lessons.