Gor Mahia describe chaos in Tunisia
Additional reporting from the Nation
60,000-seater Stade Olympique Rades in Tunisia last Sunday, Esperance may have unleashed the demons in full force against Gor Mahia during the return match of the first round of Caf Champions League qualifiers, if the claims by an official of the club is anything to go by.
The hosts won 1-0 to progress to the group stage.
In the ill-tempered match, Gor Mahia players and members of the team’s technical bench were mistreated in Tunisia as the partisan home crowd chanted chauvinistic slogans.
Gor coach Dylan Kerr, his assistant Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno, team manager Jolawi Abondo and goalkeeper trainer Willis Ochieng were all assaulted in the 90-minute melee.
After the match, Kerr called it “the worst football game I have ever had to be part of.”
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“It was very scary. At one point we had to go into the pitch for our own security. We were all attacked. Willis was roughed up and thrown to the ground by the stewards and when Zico went to help, he was also assaulted. From the touchline, I ducked and missed at least three objects made of hard plastic that had been aimed at us while the game was going on. The worst thing is that when I turned to look, I saw that it was a uniformed police officer aiming the missiles,” Abondo told Nation Sport on Monday from Tunis.
The stakes were indeed high for both teams, as the first leg clash had ended 0-0. This gave both teams equal chances of making it o the prestigious group stage where clubs are rewarded with a Sh54 million bounty.
It was a highly emotional and ill-tempered match, with a three-minute stoppage just before half time when K’Ogalo technical bench ventured onto the pitch to escape missiles from the stands.
The Esperance fans were protesting against what they thought was bias by match referee from Botswana Joshua Bondo.
During the match, that was beamed live online, Esperance coach Khaled Yahia was seen entering the pitch twice in protest at the referee’s decision but escaped with a verbal caution, although Fifa rules are clear that such an offence warrants tougher punishment.
Gor however survived the intense hostility, and lost 1-0 courtesy of Anice Badri’s goal in the 21st minute after poor clearance from Wesley Onguso.
Gor now await their fate in Caf Confederation Cup play-offs round, where Caf Champions League losers will be pooled against Caf Confederation Cup first round winners.
The draw will be done on Wednesday at Caf headquarters in Egypt, and Gor’s possible opponents include Algeria’s CR Belouizdad (Algeria), Al Masry of Egypt, Nigeria’s Enyimba, CS La Mancha of Congo and SuperSport United of South Africa.
Kerr: Esperance were unsportsmanlike
Coach Dylan Kerr thinks his side did well in Tunis but were undone by unsportsmanlike conduct by the Esperance players.
“That was a hell of a game today i watched it and how these guys over power and take dives,They must now play in Kenya and get the same treatment,they acted like bullies and then run to protect the officials who i thought had a good game for them” said Kerr on social media.
Kerr have his side credit for battling to the end despite missing important players like Guikan, Kevin Omondi, Wellington Ochieng and Walusimbi.
“Pole [Sorry] to K’Ogalo, my Chairman and my hard-working players. Today I saw unreal things in football but We never gave up. We lost the game because at Machakos we didn’t score and we battled even when two players were missing, one injured and the other mmmmmmm no comment. I tried, we tried!” he added.
Gor however survived the intense hostility, and lost 1-0 courtesy of Anice Badri’s goal in the 21st minute after poor clearance from Wesley Onguso.
Gor now await their fate in Caf Confederation Cup play-offs round, where Caf Champions League losers will be pooled against Caf Confederation Cup first round winners.
The draw will be done on Wednesday at Caf headquarters in Egypt, and Gor’s possible opponents include Algeria’s CR Belouizdad (Algeria), Al Masry of Egypt, Nigeria’s Enyimba, CS La Mancha of Congo and SuperSport United of South Africa.
Karma really exists,club hierarchy you mistreat walusimbi and arrogantly talk he’s absence,well look where Esperance’s solo goal emanates from?Still we should have abandoned that match as am sure if we did the same here,all world media would be busy talking of Kogalo’s unruly fans and violent history locally.All esperance gets is a slap on the wrist.Can FkF demand the match report from the Match Commissioner,compile video evidence and submit a formal complaint to Caf immediately.Hii upuzi ya mwarabu lazma iishe washenzi hao…
Yes, in the CCC, Gor has to prove itself too and based on the Esperance performance, they can be in the group stages!
Hopefully player payment related issues, like in the case of walusimbi and the other unknown cases, will be sorted quickly!
If we can have Gor, Rayon, st. George, yanga alongside kccafc, as part of the east African contingent on continental championship engagements, then we can be sure football in the cecafa region will grow!
Otherwise, having only one east African team, kccafc, in the champions league does not auger well for east african football. It speaks volumes about the quality of the game in our region!
Hehehe, “Yaliyo pita si ndwele, tugange yajayo,”.
We have confederation cup and league duties to worry about yajowa, stop Esperance nonsense!
If you watch the match you will see the poor clearance was not by Onguso but our usual suspect…whom I won’t name so don’t put words in my mouth!!!!
Not fair comment
If my comment where I did not name anyone is not fair, how not fair is the story that mentioned Onguso yet he was not even the one responsible Sir? Secondly, I never mentioned any names so unless you have somebody in mind to blame for the poor clearance, that is you not me!!!
1.If you want to know the value of the 12th man and home advantage,learn from Esperance.GMFC does same locally but compared to Esperance it’s childs’ play. 2. Walusimbi is the victim not the villian and bloated EC the villian not the victim. Walusimbi is a committed proffessional player, who delivers, who must be paid for his services as agreed period.EC must stop making empty promises. Note some players/passengers whose performance is questionable will never challenge EC lest their productivity is queried.Bottom line it’s the club which suffers e.g Goalkeeping errors and wasted goal scoring opportunities. 3. The Esperance tie was lost,by not scoring,in Machakos 95%, KPL/FKF derailed us by crowding our matches and EC further,muddied the waters,with non payment issues. Let’s learn from the Esperance experience as we get ready for the Confed Cup playoffs. The onus is on Jakom AR to steer Gor beyond the premlinary CAF rounds at least once in his long tenure & impove his miserable CAF record.
BREAKING NEWS…..CAF group seedings means Kogallo to face either Morroco, Algeria, Nigeria or Congo opponent in the Play offs for confederation cup.
Morocco & Algeria are still ventilating northern arabs so we will face another stern test,Better that Congo since Nigeria representative is Enyimba another dogfigher with dirty tricks…Caf ojoga matek
Gor can beat any team in the continent but my worry is fielding of passangers as oduor 12 puts it,an example is Kagere/tusiyenge combination have failed to blossom,berry have been out of form but the said players are fielded at the expense of Kevo,guitan and Samwel why can’t the technical bench try a different combination,
Leave it for coach, that’s why he is there
Those two contributed to us being there
Let us be responsible with our comments!! Branding players and calling them names is unjust and uncalled for. Even world reknown Players have scored own goals, given away penalties and missed penalties but at no time would you find their fans blaming them for having cost them the match!! Let’s grow up and stand up for the team!!! All our players are important to us, including those that didn’t travel or play.
@Le Pastre, with all due respect, I stand by my comments. If I waited for your opinion before saying mine I would be a robot. That is my opinion and if you were more world aware you will have known that Bale endured boos and unsavoury comments from Real fans for quite some time when he was under par, same to Ronaldo and other players around the world. My constitution is such that, I point out a mistake when I see it. Yours seem to be that players are demigods who should not be corrected lest we discourage them and make them lose form. Totally opposed worldviews. So instead of reacting to my posting next time, kindly post a counter-argument that exposes the deficiency in mine!!! And for your information, when you talk about standing up for the team, I travel land and sea to watch almost all Gor Mahia matches including off-season friendlies and pay the gate charges wherever applicable. Do you? That to me is the epitome of standing up for the team not admonishing people to stop doing this and that behind keyboards!!!!
My point is:- singling out players for a below par performance is quite different from ponting out at a mistake a player made during a match. We all support Gor Mahia in our own unique, special and intelligent ways. As for paying for gate charges, traveling far and wide both on road and in the air is a matter of choice. Instead of trying to intimidate us you should thank the almighty God that he has granted you the financial muscle to do all that. As for me, I travel occasionally as my busy pastoral work rarely allows me the lattitude to. Instead I support Gor Mahia by offering prayers to the team. Remember, John 15:5, without God you can do nothing. So before you question whether we pay even gate charges, remember that even prayers offered from the middle of 10*10 room by a Korogocho, Mathare, Kibera or Nyalenda dweller on behalf of the team still attracts the attention of God. Gor is for all of us and has no class. Remember, those who ‘have’ rarely shouts about their wealth. Look where humilty has placed our Central Kenya brothers! Na ‘sisi’tukipata kidogo lazima dunia yote ijue. Facts are stubborn and calling players names and singling them out for a mistake is not currative, preventive neither is it helpful. It’s an indictment of ones wholesome character.
@Le Pastre, your problem seems bigger than I initially thought. My post never alluded anywhere that I have neither did it refer to class. Attending Gor Mahia matches does not require one to be rich so I don’t know how you got to telling me all the stories of money. You said I need to stand up for the team and I told you that the best way to stand up for the team is to pay the 200 shillings at the gate that pays our players and staff and that pontificating behind keyboards like you are wont to do will not put bread on the tables of our beloved players.. But of course, you were never going to see that because you had issues with the messenger who in your blind and mistaken fury ‘has’ and is flaunting it instead of reading the message. Next time please read to understand and not just to respond.
Congratulation to our Kogalo and the Technical bench. This I say so with a lot of pride considering the condition the team was subjected to. History has it that playing the Arab North has always yielded a bag of goals in their favour. Gor has gone that root before. The Teams mental might must be commended. They could have easily collapsed but by all evidence they refused to give into intimidation. surprisingly the home resorted to all sorts of dirty tricks to defend that one goal. They must have realised that this is not the Kogalo of yesteryear s.I can now say that they are in the right mode for the tough assignments ahead. For me every player gave their best in fact it was difficult to tell that certain players did not make the team. This is good fro team. You do not stop playing because so and so is not there. Every player in the team knows what is expected of them anytime they are called to duty. I think the Team is set to be felt in the Confederation Cup. Just as we look at the big names from other Countries, they also know there is a big team in Gor Mahia from Kenya.
Well said and congratulations to the team for proving to Esperance that the spirit of Gor Mahia is truly indefatigable and indomitable. They had a wonderful match and their mental strength is commendable. To coach DK, you have proved to the whole world that your coaching certificates are worth the papers they are written on. May the grace of God walk with you though the CAF Confederation Cup competition of 2018.
AMEN
Something to note.As Ze Maria taught us we build from the back,but Esperance countered by pressing. so after a pass by Bonny to any defender the next step was to clear of which most balls were dealt with by opponent.The moment Mieno was introduced those long balls were won by Mieno and some led to chances created
The team did well under the given circumstances. Let us encourage them as opposed to pointing fingers. Those who keep advising the coach to field sijui huyo sijuwi yule, why did you not apply for the coaching job when Ze Maria left. Support Kogallo wuon timbe with one heart. If the pain of losing to unsporting Esperence is too much to bear, you are free to switch allegiance.
I am Kogallo in victory and lose. Never worried about nothing. For God and my beloved club – Kogallo
If we bloggers on this forum can be this emotional when we are criticised, how about that player that is singled out for criticism?
Guys some of the things are better left to professionals, they will do justice to the so called mistakes without injuring a player’s self esteem
It is now apparent that some guys instead of praising the efforts our good team did in Tunisia, they are busy trying to lynch our good players.If you can’t praise your players then why show appreciative fans that you are the best in all manners i.e name calling which even turn to be abusive.
One should think of being accommodative but being emotional you either accept other fans corrections or you stay out completely.
Supersport United it is
Good draw but we still won’t make any progress to the Confed Cup group stage UNLESS WE SCORE GOALS AND WIN. Missed chances don’t count so however much some bloggers want to “baby” these mature, seasoned proffessional players bottom line is the team’s strikers must improve their poor scoring rate.
And how does criticizing them on this forum make them improve?
Am happy with the draw and i see a chance not only in the group stage but also in the quarter finals….. I hope for the best…. form will be paramount…and should take advantage of