Month: December 2012

In 2012, Tusker, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards, the three most succesful and storied Kenya clubs finished in the top 3 of the Kenya premier league.

The country hosting the CECAFA club cup aka Kagame cup typically enters 2 or 3 teams as Tanzania did last year. With that in mind Kenya would have been a perfect host in 2013. Nicholas Musonye, the CECAFA chairman has in the past complained that Kenyan fans are disinterested in football. However a regional tournament featuring Kenya’s 3 top would have been a crowd puller.

It would give fans from towns outside Nairobi a chance to watch top flight football. If the renovations at the stadium in Kisumu are complete, Gor Mahia would play some of their home matches there. Ingwe would play some home matches in Mumias or Bukhungu. While Tusker would play games in Nakuru where the fans have been starved of international football.

And with the 3 clubs stoking interest in these towns, it is likely that the matches involving other teams would have been well attended as well.

It was 1984 when Kenya hosted this cup at the newly constructed Nyayo stadium. Public interest was at fever pitch and all matches were well attended. Most matches including those not involving Kogalo or Ingwe were well attended. Since then, the interest of the Kenyan public in this tournament has been waning to the point where it is almost moribund. Hosting the CECAFA club cup would be a good way for Mr. Musonye and his team to revive the interest of the Kenyan public.

However as things stand now, it appears only Ethiopia and Rwanda have expressed interest in hosting the cup. The latter have already hosted the tournament numerous times within the past few years.

 

The draw for the 2013 CAF Confederations cup has been made. Kenya’s respresentatives, Gor Mahia have been drawn against Anse Reunion of Seychelles in the preliminary round. The first leg will be played on 15–17 February 2013

Gor Mahia will be looking to atone for the disastous campaign of 2012 that saw them eliminated by Ferroviario of Mozambique in unceremonious fashion.

Should Gor Mahia beat Anse ReUnion, they will play Ennpi of Egypt in the 1st round. Egyptian teams have typically proven to be a tough nut to crack for East African teams. However Sofapaka proved 2 years ago that it can be done when they eliminated Ismailia of Egypt.

On paper Anse Reunion appears not to be a difficult team. In the past they have signed Kenya national team players such as James Omondi and Zablon Amakanaka as well as other internationals. So they will be no pushovers. The last time Anse ReUnion participated in a continental tournament was in 2008 when they reached the 1st round.

Last time Gor Mahia played Ferrioviario, the team was in turmoil due to infighting amongst technical bench members. The players were unfit due to lack of conditioning. There was no competent coach nor a coach who could command the respect of the players, the EC nor the technical bench. The players were fatigued and injury prone after the end year tour. Fans will hope that these issues will have been ironed out this time. A modicum of stability is required in order to prepare for continental assignments.

courtesy of futaa.com

Gor Mahia Senior Vice Chairman David Kiilo insists K’ogalo skipper and goalkeeper Jerim Onyango is not for sale amid interest from Tusker Premier League rivals AFC Leopards.

Onyango has heavily been linked with a possible move to AFC, but the official moved quickly to deny claims saying the skipper is currently tied down to the club until 2015.

Extended contract

-We are just hearing it from press, but for sure AFC have not made any official approach to us.

-All the same, the chances of the club releasing him [Jerim] are very minimal; he renewed a two year contract in last transfer window that will expire in July 2015.

-Onyango has become a key player in the team and we cannot put him in the transfer market just like that. By that, I mean he is not for sale, said Kiilo to futaa.com.

Onyango was voted as the first runners-up goalkeeper in this year’s TPL awards.

 

Kenya made it to the finals of the 2012 CECAFA challenge cup after beating a hard fighting Zanzibar side on penalties.

The Zanzibaris had shocked Kenya when Khamis Mcha found himself wide open in front of the Kenya goal and he made no mistake. Kenya fought back gamely with Cliff Miheso and Mike Baraza coming close. The equalizing goal came when Gor Mahia’s Kevin Omondi floated a long ball into the danger area. A backpedalling Zanzibari defender headed the ball into his own net. The score at halftime was 1-1.

In the 75th minute, the Islanders took the lead yet again this time via the penalty spot. Kenya came back storming yet again and this time Ingwe striker Mike Baraza headed home a corner from Abdallag Juma.

In the penalty shootout, Edwin Lavatsa calmy slotted his attempt along with Baraza, Jockins Atudo and Abdallah Juma

 

Kogalo midfielder Kevin Omondi and Paul Were of Ingwe were both given a reprieve and returned to Kampala to resume training for the semi -final of the CECAFA match against Zanzibar.

The duo who had been dismissed from the team expressed their remorse and were offered a chance to return to the team by KFK after coach James Nandwa made the request. The request was accepted after Stars suffered several injuries.

Omondi will now team up with team-mates Edwin Lavatsa and Rama Salim who played stating roles as Kenya beat Malawi 1-0  in the quarter finals.

It was a huge win for Kenya which has previously found Malawi to be a very difficult team to beat. Even with foreign based professionals , Kenya could not beat Malawi at home when they last met

Courtesy of Nation

Courtesy of supersport.com

Gor Mahia assistant coach John Bobby Ogola says the club will not hold anymore player trials and insists the team is focused on signing several key players that it has already identified.

The club held trials from Friday 23 November to Sunday 25 November, but Bobby has revealed that the club did not select any player from the three-day trials.

“The trials were not well-planned and we did not get the players we were looking for. Many of the players who turned up are young who want to kick-start their career while we are looking for experienced players who will help us in the league as well as continentally,” Ogola said.

“We will therefore not hold any further trials. We are eying some players whom I believe if we succeed in bringing them to the team we will be stronger. We will also drop several players as we aim at maintaining a formidable squad,” he added.

Gor won the Top 8 Tournament, the FKF President’s Cup and finished second in the Tusker Premier League this season, and Ogola says the team wants to do even better next term.

“We will participate in the CAF Confederations Cup and we also want to improve our performance next season and that’s why we are keen on strengthening our squad,” he added.