Gor Mahia beat Tusker on spot kicks
Courtesy of michezoafrika.com
Kenyan Premier League defending Champions Tusker FC and Gor Mahia fought off to a barren draw in normal regulation time thus occasioning penalty shootout that Gor Mahia won 3-1.The friendly match was played at the City Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Both coaches, Zdravko Logarusic and Sammy Omollo, used the match as a build up to evaluate the preparedness of their teams ahead of the second leg of the KPL as well as being a good testing ground for their new signings.
Coach Logarusic threw in his new dices starting former Tusker and AFC Leopards man Itubu Imbem as well as immediate former City Stars top talisman Dan Sserunkuma. Tusker on the other hand had a completely differnt face in the back four with their players being away on national duty.
Both teams approached the match coolly with none throwing all the weight. Tusker were the brighter side in the encounter with Peter “Pinchez” Opiyo and Jerry Santos commanding the pace of the game from the midfield.
Patrick Kagogo had a decent effort in the ninth minute but keeper Jerry Onyango collected the ball with ease. Teddy Akumu had an effort for Gor Mahia in the 27th minute but his long range shot went agonizingly wide.
Approaching the half hour mark, the game’s tempo began to gradually pick up. Tusker keeper George Opiyo standing between the sticks in the absence of Boniface Oluoch was called into action in the 34th minute, making a spectacular save from an Itubu Imbem shot after a defensive clearance hit Danni Serunkuma.
Gor then made the first sub of the evening Jerry Onyango coming off for Ivo Mapunda.
Opiyo was then forced into his second sub of the evening with another fantastic save from an Ivan Anguyo freekick.
Come the second half, Tusker changed their entire team, with Coach Pamzo swinging in his new signings in David Nyanzi and Allan Katerega.
Coach Logarusic re-strategized by bringing in a few new faces including Eddy Mubiru, Edwin Lavatsa, Yussuf Juma, Nasio Solomon and George Midenyo.
Play was minimized into midfield battle with the two keepers having nothing much to do. Tusker were again the brighter side with Katerega and Nyanzi tormenting the Gor backline.
Gor also made some chances in the Tusker 18-yard area but the ball never found its way into the net.
After the 90 minutes with the game still at 0-0,penalties were to be used to decide the winner .Gor Mahia’s Ivans Anguyo,Kevin Omondi and Duncan Owiti converted theirs while Charles Ondete and Dennis Mukaisi were not lucky for the brewers.Maurice Odipo managed to score for Tusker to make it 3-1.
Good start. But you could do better than penalty shoot outs
which should we believe? It was reported that Eddy Mubiru got injured while in training hence the postponment of his signing! And now we read that he was used as a substitute!
The EC should come clean on this whole signing.is itubu any better than selenga? Why go for a journeyman while loads of fresh,emerging talents are abound?
Itub imbem is another recycled product…..what the hell is this ?have we not learnt from our previous learnings…….yajowa !
@Jakoyo I share your sentiments….and this goes to confirm that the names floated by George Bwana to Futaa.com a fortnight ago was indeed a decoy. I hope they shall be impressed by the new kid on the block, Gaucho as well as Ed Mubiru.
Under what circumstances did I. Imbem leave those two successful and prestigious clubs? Why did he leave Tusker?
Once again we are proving to be goal shy. Remember Tusker’s dependable players are away on national duty while GM were full strength. This calls for one week of absolutely serious work. Otherwise I want to thank EC and the technical bench for organising that friendly with Tusker. I wish another friendly could be organised against Ulinzi or Karuturi Sports.
guys lets give credit where its due kogalo lads did agood job, coach was trying 2 find agood combination,u even witness owino n anguyo in difence we r in the correct direction.
the match will not say alot about gor for now. the most bogus character on all this is EC guy bwana. going around yapping how gor was going to recruit this and that and raising the fans hopes is really dissapointing. what is it with this guy and dancing to the gallery. my opinion is as before. gor did not really need these new guys for now, give one or two players eg mid field and attack. my pound of meat has to come from the croatian. i suport ur coming to gor, can you now cook something GOOD for us. i believe u have the right ingredients. even sofapaka and breweries do not have it good in all departments! so lets stop this who has come to GOR, can the coach now come with a winning combination or play pattern. if ur that good, u will read the gor game and improve it or u will start grumbling the way u need a striker here and a defender there. i personally will judge u after the first five games coz after that the nxt 11 games will either give u the league or send u to the dogs. i believe gor can still take the league so lets go for it. i’m taking that all is now settled, allowances, elections, injuries,medicare etc so the only thing is to deliver. basically i see no excuse now. there is hardly any player with the FRIENDLY team, so gor is intact.. GEL now or forever keep quiet.my expectations are now high given that the hooligans will at stay home, for they are now the only threat to the GOR game, otherwise i say go GOR go…
The question i hope is now answered that the coach has his players who can run and think and think at the same time. Hmm, really! I dont see any difference and credit due here! Let K’ogalo accept that only Siang’a brought change to GM, in as much as i don’t call for his rehire, i own up and wonder what really ails GM, has tursker become GM’s feeder/academy?
In futaa.com the coach has called for patience from the fans. Why do we always expect instant results? As someone has said let’s give the coach credit. Even Morinho with all the best players took some time before he won La Liga. Let’s not pressurise the players. AS fans at times we are the teams greatest enemies. Let’s have a look at AFC’s performance when there we wrangles and learn from it. Like Dinga said we will know our destiny after say 5 games. The good team we had of youngtars was beaten 6-0 aggregate by APR and we picked from there, of course after hounding the coach from office by us fans. We need to know that we cannot use the same tactics/blame game every year and get different results.
Surely we did not play well at all despite Tusker having 5 key players out for National duty and as a result we went for some penalty shoot-outs as a consolation to get at least a goal. We fully support Lugorisic but surely we need clear structures like Siang’a did to raise our own players. Now I believe all these big names will not take us anywhere. We always think what we don’t have is what we need and when it comes we think the other we are yet to acquire is the best/one and it becomes a continuous cycle like of chicken and egg where you will be asked who came first…is it chicken or egg…and you say chicken came from egg and egg brought forth chicken…Guys second leg will not be an easy ride like we may think!
can we stick to what we can do best, cheer the team. your personal critics will take Gor nowhere!!!!!let the coach and the EC do there job.
Mine is to cheer the team and contribute as kawaida!!!!!
Siasa ndiyo inawaharibia and true to it you will be shocked when in the ground to hear propaganda from all quarters and how muich misinformed these same “politicians” are. to make it worse they are the loudest!!!! I wish we would just cheer and build a winning mentality to the boys. with the speed I saw from ITUBU,its only time we jelled.
@Papamiky, you have talked like a thousand people. We seem to know what we want us a group but forget that we have to walk or work to get there. We beat up/harassed Siang’a, Aura, Agido, Zedi, Awono and we still claim that we know it all. All those coaches cannot be wrong. As I see the league now a bunch of upcoming boys like those of Siang’a cannot hold their match against an experienced team like Sofapaka, Tusker or Ulinzi. That was then, when the league had not become as competitive as it is now. We must blend experience with youth. Have the Mubirus, Kevos, Thigas, Lavatsa to play with Akina Imbem, Lucky Dube, Ivo etc. That’s why we had Awilo and Blackberry types providing success for GM. Can we ever get away from the critic-mode and support or give the benefit of doubt. Some players read this blog and some comments are not good for their ego and hence performance. At least the coach now criticises in a positive way
DAN,PAPAMIKY niko na nyinyi let us all agree to chear gor now its too late to start blamegame .am ready us gor fan .