Gor Mahia held by USM Alger 0-0
Gor Mahia’s second CAF Confederations cup group match against USM Alger ended scoreless. This after Gor Mahia were reduced to 10 men with the ejection of Joash Onyango.
Additional Reporting from the Nation
Gor Mahia battled to a barren draw with visiting USM Alger of Algeria in their Caf Confederation Cup Group D match at a rain-soaked Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on Wednesday despite playing for the last 35 minutes with 10 men.
Centre back Joash Onyango was sent off on 55 minutes for a second bookable offence but the gritty hosts held on to secure their second successive draw in the competition although they could have won the tie as striker Jacques Tuyisenge and winger George Odhiambo had two late chances to kill off the tie.
Dylan Kerr’s men also had two penalty appeals turned down by the centre referee much to the chagrin of the handful fans who had braved the heavy downpour at Kasarani.
Besides the unwelcoming weather conditions, both sides had to endure a torrid trip to the stadium before the tie. A traffic snarl up along the busy Thika Super Highway forced the sides to get to the match venue just under 50 minutes to kick off, drastically reducing the allocated time for warm up.
This result, coupled with a similar scoreline in the group’s other game pitting Tanzania’s Young Africans against Rwanda’s Rayon Sport, implies the Kenyan champions remain second with two points, behind the seven time Algerian champions who have amassed four points in this pool after two rounds of matches. Rayon have a similar point tally to Gor while the Tanzanian outfit are placed last, having picked up a single point.
Gor’s task of picking something from this game was made harder after Onyango was sent off for a second bookable offence after shoving off Farouk Chefai just after the restart in this drama filled contest.
At on the other end, Odhiambo had two penalty appeals waved off by match Malian match referee Mamadou Keita, decisions that clearly infuriated Kerr and the Green Army.
“The lads have again done brilliant tonight and we could be sitting here and celebrating a two or three goal victory. But that didn’t happen, and they obviously started falling around and suddenly we are left with only have 10 players on the pitch. At that point, the game became more difficult,” said Kerr.
The first of Odhiambo’s appeals at the half hour mark seemed legitimate, coming after Mohammed Benyana stopped the Kenyan international with a high boot in the danger area.
The hosts were, by far, the better team in the opening half, fashioning out six clear chances.
Disappointingly though, none of these efforts found the back of the net.
Ivorian forward Ephrem Guikan, who was standing in for the suspended Meddie Kagere, had three of these chances.
His first on 13 minutes came via a rifled goal bound shot which was superbly blocked by Oussana Chita’s sliding tackle for a corner, even though it seemed the ball had bounced off the defender’s arm just outside the box.
Guikan’s second chance nine minutes later was via a header off Odhiambo’s measured cross, an effort the visiting keeper Mohamed Lamine did well to parry off with a stretched right hand save.
Odhiambo too, had two goal bound shots in succession thwarted by a combination of Lamine’s impressive left handed and the goal post, as the opening stanza wore on.
In between, the Algerians barely threatened but once and even then, Boniface Oluoch did well to gather a feeble header from Ben Yahyia.
Weldone boys, you have really tried your best. there is no way Rayon sports can beat either Gor Mahia or USM Algers a way. I can see you have solidified your position two for the quarter finals. Keep it up, let us now turn our orcus to sportpesa premier league.
After the red card, I lost hope. Under the circumstances, I think they tried. We must win all the remaining home games and fight for draws away. Missed chances still the order of the day though
Careful about counting your chicks before they hatch! This group is one of the trickiest in CCC. There’s also alot of profligacy Infront of goal. Perhaps, therein lies Gor Mahia’s biggest undoing besides the off field gate collections related issues!
Ever since we started playing champions lig.and game ya leo,,meeen! Gor 1st evelen can’t play Kenya lig.tell me which team hapa Kenya can face us?
USM was held by 10man Gor mahia.
I wonder why somebody is saying that they held us.
The match officials were not on our side, we would have win the gane.
Congratulations boys.
The Malian ref denied as a 2 clear penalty he also seemed determined to set USM for a win
We are still drawing our home matches…..when will we learn ? ! Nonsense, you don’t win trophies by draws….you have to win and score goals .
Draws can win you a trophy, if and when away goal rules apply
Well said!
Congrats boys, the remaining home matches are a must win
Referees from West Africa have always been biased against us. Almost everything conspired against us today and therefore it behoves to state that the boys were splendid. Blackberry was man of the match. Good to see Mieno and Walusimbi picking up steadily.
Wendo and Joash should be more careful. We are now playing in the international arena. I still don’t see the rationale of converting a midfield powerhouse into right full back when we have natural defenders who were signed specifically for defensive duties.
Our Archelle’s heel steel remains scoring. Boniface Omondi was a live wire within the few minutes he was on. I am convinced that the scoreline would have been different had Jausenge rolled the rebound back to Blackberry after dummying the keeper.
All is not lost and I believe we will weather the storm.
Congrats gallant Gor boys…You were amazing and resilient like true warriors in the face of a very biased officiating Referee.That malian Mahamadou Keita was all for USM Algiers and denied us two clear penalties.Still we fought and good thing Yanga vs Rayon Sport ended 0-0 too.So slowly but surely we soldier on.Special mention to Kahata,Blackberry,Walusimbi,Philemon and Mieno who stood tall.Coach Kerr you still make us proud with each passing day
We march ON…..@JA. sego “.
Congratulations boys. I was disappointed by Malian referee whom seems to fevor USM Alger.
Our midfield did a splendid job and really outplayed the opponents. Ever since Gor started playing continental mat
ches this year no team has scored more than one goal against us in open play. It has been either own goal own or through set pieces. Keep up! Let’s nnow focus on the league matches and apply the same fighting spirit. No Kenyan team can now match our standard.
I think we are getting fooled ….we should not be happy with home draws if the likes of KCCA can thump Al Ahly 2-0 at home.
We need to accept there are weaknesses in the club and stop this illusioned chest thumping!
@Jakoyo, I am not getting fooled. We are playing very well. The state of the pitch after heavy downpour affected both teams but Gor Mahia mastered the pitch very well. We were just unlucky not to have scored. If the team played well, we need to congratulate the team and there is nothing wrong in commenting positively on the players and team.
Games played under different circumstances….congrats Gor players..we are proud of you all..including Tuysenge n Guikan…these goals will start raining…just play n enjoy your game…that’s it..we are praying for you all…
I watched that game and it was a stuff of legend! What a display! The youngest squad in the continent with an average age of 21and they ran Al Ahly rugged! They could have easily come off with 4:0 score if there was even an additional 5 mins!
@ jamigori, true but why are we not the ones winning games ….I just don’t understand this mantra that we are unlucky, now the weather, Mara referee, Mara the strikers.
Surely, the essence of football is winning and for you to win, you have score and hope everything else conspires to your favour.
As it is, we are winning because we are not scoring and the next game against yanga in Tanzania, you bet it will be the same old story ! I can’t fail to believe we are illusioned into thinking ‘ the boys played well’…
what is the definition of playing well ?
@Jakoyo , in 1987 , Gor never won against Esperance , they drew home and away , but they won the trophy , a win comes in different forms , and in the current scenario , a win will come in the form of as qualifying for the next stage of this tournament , which we will .
But concerning yesterday’s game , The ref’s biasness or not , bad luck or not , waterlogged pitch or not , kagere in or out , ONE Thing is clear , we are out of our depth in the final third and its better that we remedy this sooner rather than later , Fortunately for as , the recruiting window of June comes long before our next game against Yanga mid July , Quality strikers are very few in this world but we have to do something about it , what we have currently is good enough for the local league but can be very costly when amongst our peers at the top cream of African football .
@Jakoyo ..Which matches have lost?
The fight was well fought keep up kogalo!!!
So who is fooling us? We should not compare our match with the KCCA match because factors mitigating the two matches are worlds apart. Was the KCCA game officiated by same bogus idiots from Mali? Was the playing surface laid recently. Did it rain heavily during that KCCA match. Were KCCA reduced to 10 men. Did the ref dismiss KCCA’s clear penalty appeals? Jakoyo answer these questions with honesty. You are however right to say that there are weaknesses and these weaknesses are with the striking force. I suggest we rope in Elvis Rupia of Nzoia and Vincent Oburu during the transfer window. If we get local strikers with J’Asego’s Ghanaian midfielder then the weakness will be history. The real problem is not even with strikers, but a Khalid Aucho or Baba Kizito type of midfielder who’s capable of delivering intricate incisive passes to a finisher like Guikan.
I hope I am right that Guikan and Jausenge are both natural finishers. Finishers without a feeder is of no great use to a team.
Thoo Jakoyo please give team a break, they played very well. Mine is all congratulations and am happy
We should ignore jakoyo because he will not see anything good about this team. Maybe he dislike Kerr and he will always critic anything good about this team. Anybody who watched this game will agree with me that the referee did everything in favor of USM including the sending off of Joshua.
We need to score. We got poor strikers and we should work on that. Period!
As I have pointed out in my earlier comments, what should we expect if we have two good finishers without a creative midfielder to feed them. If we cannot acquire J’Asego’s Ghanaian midfielder then Ker should trust a Kahata-Lawrence Juma-Mieno/Philemon Otieno combination in the midfielder and Boniface Omondi to augment the attack.
It was a tough game we tried our best but it was not good enough to give us a win. On the ref definitely as hme fans we had to feel that he was biased, but what if he gave a penalty for Kahata’s handball? Would it not have changed the game altogether considering how USM were faking injuries? On the RED card it was unfortunate but on this wall it has been raised several times that the raw aggressive nature of Joash will cost us in international matches. And it came to pass.
Our strikers are still selfish. You wonder why they cannot assist one another in a scoring position.
Anyway all the best for the team and I can still see us qualifying at the expense of Rayon
@Danico, I am the one who raised the Joash issue here but instead of fellow bloggers appreciating the spirit of my comment they went tongs and daggers for the substance alone. I sympathise with him though because he had put in a very decent shift. The second card also seemed harsh but Joash must also realise that both cards were unnecessary. In the first instance, his easier option would have been to pass the ball back to Boniface and look for space for the return pass. Instead, he tried to turn with the ball goalwards and the fleetfooted Algerian stole it leaving him with the only option to foul him since he was the last man and there was the card. The second card was even more bizarre because Joash knows he is already on a yellow. The push on that guy is so unwarranted since even if he went past him, it was almost near the corner flag, our other defenders had already retreated back to shape and USMA had few bodies in the box so even if he brought in a cross chances of it being lethal were only 50/50 compared to his being sent off. @Jakoyo is entitled to whine as is his usual self but drawing with 10 men for almost half the game is no mean feat. It is USMA who should be sorry they could not beat us with their numerical advantage. Mieno is improving by each passing game and Berry is in the form of his life despite a few of us always castigating him and calling for his substitution. Finally, Danico, if you watch the replays you will realize Kahata’s ‘handball’ was not a handball at all. The ball hit him on the chest close to the shoulder and id you are not keen enough youmay not see that. Contrast that with the handball their defender had on the follow p to Guikan’s early shot and the two Berry incidents, then you may understand the anger among Kogallo fans.
Jakoyo GM did everything a game of football requires under the circumstances yesterday and hence were simply amazing.USM came with a mindset for forcing a draw away.They kept falling down unecessarily and inviting controversies to which they influenced that “wiye diny” malian ref who i must abuse as above all factors considered.He turned down a guikan goalbound handball shot by a USM defender,a Blackberry hacking in the 6 yard box & gave all fifty fifty challenges as fouls against us then finally red carded Joash unjustifiably with an incident near the corner post not concerning any goal scoring opportunity.Still with 10 men we held our fort and kept our shape intact and pushed hard for the winner like Warriors.Surely what more could we ask of our boys and Coach yesterday?
Bloggers allow me to finally weigh in on this striker issue highlighted by @sokajembe,teddy sofaset & dan original.We have the manpower in that dept,Guikan and Kagere are as good as they come this sides of Cecafa.Tuyisenge is a former winger who gives blood,sweat and tears for K’ogalo every time.It just happens that the three are not scoring as often as they should.Problem is all are foreigners and therefore unless we are bringing in Continental Stalwarts in Zimbabwean Karma Billiat or Burkinabe Laffor from South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns & Orlando Pirates or Zambian Rainford Kalaba from TP Mazembe then unfortunately we can release none.The remedy lies in having dribbling and scoring midfielders who can supplement and save the day when situation requires.Then also we need to be more clinical on set pieces which we Never utilise no matter how prime positioned they are.Unless there is a local striker capable of donning the white & green maybe Eric Kapaito of sharks or current SPL Top Scorer Elvis Rupia of Nzoia or is it Vihiga who definitely Cannot and will be worse than Jasego if brought to Mayienga then i believe we just hope that our current ones become more Prolific sooner rather than later…
if given ample time, Boniface Omondi can be our Ben Oloo incarnate. I think Ker should not just treat everything we say, with contempt. Just recently we noted here that Momanyi will start noding balls in. Joash was aptly described here as a ticking time bomb; a disaster waiting to happen. I mean we should not just be dismissed. Ker should peruse K’Ogalo’s history and he will come to learn of the time push came to shove and a local coach jotted down the line up proposed by the fans implemented it and it yielded excellent results. Ker and Zico were defenders, but they should learn to appreciate the significance of a robust midfield. Try a Kahata-Lawrence Juma-Mieno/Philemon Otieno combination and see if it won’t work. For the strikers, one thing I always tell the teams that I coach is that they should learn to study the keeper’s movement and place the ball where the keeper just moved away from. No matter how hard or hot a shot is, it will never pierce through the goalie and bang the net.This is what reknowned strikers do out there. Blackberry’s hard header could have gone in if he mapped the empty space.
So far , GM is still unbeaten in the Caf Confed. group stage. I am seeing one of our legs in the quarters. We have good strikers comparatively, but to add depth in the squad, we should sign one more striker during the June Window and welcome Musa back.
It was unfortunate that Joash was sent off. USM must have rejoiced and looked forward to taking the advantage to score the important away goal. To their surprise it did not happen. For me it is not to cry over the spilled milk. Just like when Kagere was previously given a yellow card and could not play this Match. The team still pulled itself together and they were good to go. This is a sign of steal in the Team. Before a team goes to play an Arab team they must have confidence in themselves and be prepared for any possible eventuality. The Algiers Team Coach has acknowledged it and he therefore respects the team, but that is beside the point. I think that this is a challenge to the fans that every player is up to the task. Yes we had chances but we did not score, but we were equally against a team that is a force to recon with and that is not a secret. My congratulations goes to the team. One can see that the team spirit is so strong that every body gets gripped with intense emotions as their colleagues do duty on the pitch. The nation is slowly but steadily beginning to appreciate good Football displayed. Let us keep supporting them and with possibility of finishing Second to USM that means we will proceed to the knock out stages where you need to be a man of steel.
@Jaupanda group D is wide open for any team among the four to qualify. USM Algiers might be the leading contenders in group D as of now based on two matches played so far but we still have four more matches pending irrespective of whether you play at home or away. The next game against Yanga is must a win for K’Ogalo and suppose Rayon beats or draws with USM then we shall either lead or tie on points and who knows what will happen thereafter.
LETS KEEP FAITH AND ABOVE PRAY FOR THE TEAM TO EXCEL
Two Gor Mahia players, a defender and a midfielder, impress Hull City scouts and may join the Championship side according to reports in Goal.com. Identity still withheld and for good reason but your guess is as good as mine.
Let them wait first, but can be Onyango & kahata
Hahaha, Walusimbi and Cercidy Okeyo .
Okeyo is okay , can be replaced easily, but Waluwalu is like Aucho, it will take GM some time to get his replacement. However, it will be a greenner pastuer for them, hence we wish them all the best.
Mark I agree about W’simbi. Very true and it’s good he is recovering his true self.
The 2 players.. I guess.. Walusimbi & Berry
I agree.
Musa must be back like yesterday. Additionally, the team has not replaced Aucho and this could also be linked to dry striking power.
There seem to be enough players to fit right full back position in the team but the same is not true for left full back. If this is done then Walusimbi could be available for other duties including the current role depending on the opponent.
could it be Kahata and Philemon and what can be the impact of losing him
could it be Kahata and Philemon and what can be the impact of losing Kahata
The report about Hull City Scouts and their interest about two Gor players, it is only Hull City who knows the truth. Should it come to pass however, what a great blessing that shall be to Gor. I however beg to say that I am skeptical about the whole thing. My reasons are that this is a team that was coming to Kenya if not Africa for the first time. You can begin to imagine the excitement of being in another beautiful country outside what most of them know. At the same time a Muzungu is a person who would tell you how wonderful you are but actually means a different thing. I may not be sure about this but I think that scouts just do not watch one game and they are satisfied to make recommendations. They must have been trailing a player for some time. Let us for a moment go to the back room in Hull City, how much did they know about Gor before they came here? May be when the opportunity came, that is when they started googling the team, but did it cause the technical bench to be glued on to their sets? I mean these are just some questions that are going through my mind. As I have said these are just my thoughts.
Jaupanda you are very right.The fact that those comments about Hull City being interested in two GM players are coming from a top GM club official and not the English side renders them heresay and unreliable.Lets wait for official communication that will come through the right channel