Gor Mahia hammer KCCA
Gor Mahia won their first major build up match of 2018 when they dispatched Ugandan champions KCCA 4-2 at Afraha stadium on Saturday. The win bodes well for Kogalo considering that last year around the same time, they fell to Onduparaka of Uganda 2-0. Gor Mahia also lost to KCCA at the 2014 CECAFA club cup.
Additional reporting from the Nation
Gor Mahia coach Dylan Kerr on Saturday started Ivorian import Ephraim Guikhan on the bench but it eventually didn’t matter, as his charges thrashed Ugandan champions Kampala City Capital Authority (KCCA) 4-2 in a high profile friendly match at the Afraha Stadium in Nakuru.
K’Ogalo’s new signing Humphrey Mieno nodded home the opening goal of this pre-season encounter at the half hour mark.
The lanky midfielder reacted quickest to meet a free-kick from international Francis Kahata to beat the advancing Thomas Ikara who was guarding the visitors’ goal.
Mike Mutebi’s KCCA would eventually pay for that miss, as Boniface Omondi added a second for the hosts with four minutes to the break.
This game was over as a contest moments after resumption when Kenya international George “Blackberry” Odhiambo scored his first and Gor Mahia’s third goal, even though Julius Poloto pulled one back shortly after.
The two teams exchanged a goal in the final minutes of the game with Odhiambo getting his brace.
Innocent Aniku was the scorer for the Ugandan side.
“Our performance was satisfying considering Gor Mahia are an experienced team. We are now targeting the group stages. We have the right players this time and we have tested their confidence since most of them are young,” Mutebi said after the game.
“We got the goals well although we had lost five chances earlier. I am happy with the two goals our opponents got but the win is good for our confidence,” said Gor coach Kerr. The two clubs were using this contest as part of their preparations for their forthcoming African Champions League assignments.
KCCA are set to meet Malagasy side CNaPS in the preliminaries of the Caf Africa Champions League while Kenyan champions Gor will face Equatorial Guinea side Vegetarinos. The first leg matches are scheduled for February 8 to 10.
KCCA will now proceed to Nairobi to play Tusker and AFC Leopards in Ruaraka and Machakos on Monday and Wednesday respectively.
Gor, who thumped Egerton University 6-0 in their opening pre-season game, will proceed to Machakos for another pre-season friendly against Sudanese giants Al Hilal.
Well done. Keep it up.
4-3-3… it appears Kerr is seriously exploring the 4-3-3 model which potentially could be a game changer this season but in as much is it is very attacking oriented and utilises the midfielders fully, it could also mean alot of our strikers warming the bench ( expect Jausenge to be utilised as the sole central striker with berry and Kagere plying on the wings ) . This i think he may resort to this model when we are short on strikers and wingers or when we are defending away from home such as big matches like esperance.
4-4-2 ..It appears Kerr will / still hell bent on maintaining this system regardless of the opponent and offcourse, it suits our current squad well which has depth in striking and offensive midfield department however some seasoned wingers will have to warm the bench ( kevin omondi, samule onyango , boniface omondi ) and some players will have to adapt to new positions ( innocent wafula, ephraim guikan, cassidy carrick and lawrence juma )
4-2 -2 -2 ..Should be explored as we have huge reserve of players who can be deployed both as wingers, main strikers, second strikers and attacking midfielders ( berry, juma, cassidy, kahata, samuel onyango , kevin omondi, bernard omondi, guikan and even innocent wafula ) . would love to see Kerr give this a try in our next friendly match.
4-2-3-1..Huge potential if Kahata and Mieno must play for 90 minutes and i think Kerr should try this option in training as firing kahata and Mieno on a good day can be a headache to every defender.
So good luck Kerr, my suggestion at this point is to try as much as possible in 2018 to increase the number of goals we score from set pieces, learn how to cover defenders during wing attacks, possess more as we have more physically players this year than any other year in the past and watch more of North African matches during spare time ( Morroco, Tunisia and Egypt )
Best of wishes.
Hongera sana Coach & boys,keep the spirit and fire burning…
Kcca is a big team in Uganda but definitely not in East Africa. The fact that we beat them is just a motivating factor but I hope players will not be carried away by the win and assume that they are strong enough to tackle African giants. Let’s play against Al hillal of Sudan and see if we can score more goals and try to keep a clean sheet. Our main focus should be on eliminating Esperence from the champions league because I strongly believe that we will eliminate vegeterianos of equatorial guinea. Otherwise kudos to the team k’ogalo for the pre-season win
I think this is a good start as compared to the previous years where they have been losing their pre_season friendlies, but what i can advice kerr to do is to look for apertern that will best fit all our strikers (Guikan, Samuel Onyango, Kagere, Jausenge, end Berry) they cant be fielded at atime, others must warm the bench so it will be acompetion, then 4-3-3 formation i dont think if it can work because even zemaria tryied it during his stay but it dint work best playing with three strikers sometimes is aproblem, but otherwse lets wait and see.
I think every one has an obligation according to the position one holds and every opinion is important buh the coaches know ….its the pre season when one tries new combos for the new season..we need almost 4 ways to approach a game….and that is a master plan when u have a backup for a backup plan… my thinking is let the coach try as many of the formation as he want and if possible apply as many of them……. and we as fans go sych the team up and hope that the coach and the team performs….jasego what’s the status on sportpesa or have we got anything else?!
Seville sportpesa is trying to negotiate for concessions and tax reprieves with the govt that will allow them to continue sponsoring sports federations like before but have categorically told us and afc to hold on and not court other suitors as they are trying to figure out something that will see them continue partnering with the two teams even though things with govt hit a quagmire.We are waiting and hoping for the best
Are they willing to entertain secondary sponsorship and partnership coz it’s vital we get any stream available for income of cash…
i am happy with this new kit. It is the best that I have seen in many seasons.
Its a good start.