Gor Mahia to play Nyeri Combined
Gor Mahia is one of the teams that has been selected by the government to play in a series of friendly matches to commemorate Madaraka day. On June 1, they will contest Madaraka Day Cup against Nyeri Combined, a team composed of best players from Central region.
Sports ministry said the two sides have been picked by the Government to vie for the Cup in order to promote national cohesion among the youth during this electioneering period.
“The sides are a representative of most volatile regions in Kenya politically, it is on this premise that the Government has brought in the two in order to promote peace and harmony as we head towards elections,” Carolyne Kariuki, Principal Sports Officer, State Department of Sports, said to the Standard.
Kariuki urged communities in Nyeri to come out in large numbers to watch this historic match, which will also act as a talent search for other teams in the region.
CEO Lordvick Aduda says the players will use friendlies to maintain their fitness during the FIFA break.
“As you know the Fifa calendar is just around the corner and Gor Mahia has ten players, who have earned call ups in their national teams. The players will use the Madaraka Day Cup as their last major outing before they link up with their respective national teams,” said Aduda.
Previous tours by Gor Mahia to this region have been successful with large crowds turning out to watch. For Kogalo it is an opportunity to expand their fan base. A forward thinking EC would use this opportunity to appeal to impressionable youngstars in primary school so as to build a future fan base but also use this opportunity to sell club merchandise.
Ndirangu to use Sportpesa cup as a springboard
After the Madaraka day friendly, Gor Mahia will leave for Tanzania where they will play in the inaugural Sportpesa cup. Several players who are on international duty will be missing the squad. This offers an opportunity for players like John “Softie” Ndirangu who is determined to seize the opportunity.
“The tournament comes at an opportune moment for me. I have not had a lot of play time as I’d wish at Gor but I remain committed to the team’s targets and when I get my chance I will use it. ” he said to sportpesa news.
Ndirangu who first came to prominence as a Nakuru All Stars player, is determined to fight for a first team place at Kogalo.
“I will not tire from fighting for my place. The coaches have been encouraging and I can look to the future with hope,” he continued.
GMFC had better win against this makeshift kateam, Nyeri Combined. Any other result will be a very poor reflection on the competence/ability of our TB and players. Regarding SportPesa Cup, fringe players and asst. coach Zico will take the lead in the Kes. 3 million tournament. Our league winner gets only kes.1.5 more @ kes.4.5. KPL should increase the league’s prize money. Winner of the SP Cup will be favoured by the firm as the lead club for its promotional campaign E.G Playing against Everton. This makes it a serious cup. Would have wished that the new signings were aboard but bado EC’s waiting for Ze Maria’s report, will study it and then EC,not Ze Maria, finds players who “fit” the report while ZM is on leave. That’s using guesswork as a recruitment policy/strategy sometimes it works, at other times,like lately, it does’nt. Ze Maria should be the one to pick/sign the exact players who suit his system. Resurgence of Brewkenge may prove that UG coaches are better options.
You pick players if you know what you are looking for. However, if you know that you are not good at that, then you conveniently elect to take leave, let others do the job and then scapegoat thereafter.
And insisting on a local assistant coach as another scapegoat option. I hope, as true GMFC stakeholders, we adopt value money principle. Its waste of resources to have an “most expensive tiki taka TB”,a “4 million problem” plus best sponsorship and not be assured of CAF football upto at least group stage. Ugandan and Ethiopian clubs are achieving this with less resources than GMFC.Honestly what MIRACLE will the likes of Ndirangu do that they don’t do day in day out in training under our best paid TB. @BB you are right our TB does not know what it wants.Conversely EC knows exactly what it wants to make “4 million, Odula and Situmbeko deals” during the lucrative “money” not player transfer period.
And insisting on a local assistant coach as another scapegoat option. I hope, as true GMFC stakeholders, we adopt value/results for money principle. Its waste of resources to have an “most expensive tiki taka TB”,a “4 million problem” plus best sponsorship and not be assured of CAF football upto at least group stage. Ugandan and Ethiopian clubs are achieving this with less resources than GMFC.Honestly what MIRACLE will the likes of Ndirangu do that they don’t do day in day out in training under our best paid TB. And if ZM is not there to witness these MIRACLES how will he believe them! @BB you are right our TB does not know what it wants.Conversely EC knows exactly what it wants to make “4 million, Odula and Situmbeko deals” during the lucrative “money” not player transfer period.
Hehe you remind me of situmbeko and george bwana underhand dealings in the saga.Anyway me i believe with coach’s direct input or not it is very possible to get good players who will fit into any formation or philosophy in modern football.Being a good footballer is standard if you have it you have it period but others must strive to learn it.Take Eden Harzard vis a vis Ngolo Kante a classic case of skill vs hardwork..The same is replicated world over even at Gm take for example Walusimbi vis a vis Wendo (skill vs hardwork)..Both sets of players are required in modern football to fit into different roles…WE can still sign a world class quality striker from West Africa and attacking midfielder for that matter who will impress Ze Maria and deliver results per excellence the Anthony Laffor way. We tend to overate this Ze Maria philosophy so much like it is so complex without him it can’t work (Well it is not anything new or special really) any good coach can execute it easily with the right adaptable players…
Jasego, osiepa problem is that Ze Maria goes on holiday lets EC recruit then when he fails to win the league he says he did not have his preferred players signed in the window. About the match against Nyeri Combined, I think it is a good thing to have been recognized by government but there is no meaningful fanbase we can get from Nyeri. I am not being tribal just realistic. There are perhaps a few hundreds of them who support Gor but 99% of those people will always hate Gor Mahia and anything connected with it with a passion. And what cohesion? Unless something changes dratically in the political arena, there will be no cohesion between the communities they are trying to address. So let us not engage in semantics and go play for fitness sake. How I wish they would have chipped in something small in appreciation!!!As concerns the depleted squad to Tanzania I remain hopeful of the fringe players putting up a decent show. They may end up pulling a suprise!!!
Musymo lets be honest..Do you really believe Ze Maria earmarks any particular player for special referencing and subsequent signing?No he does not, i doubt he even knows much about neighbouring Ug or Tz leagues and players there. He’s report suggests positions for beefing up and mentions that the player should possess quality. It then falls on the EC to find that type of player either locally or regionally. Problem is thereupon deal brokers who know nothing abt quality signing begin the usual kawna wuoda philosophy or leta Mugiraneza who is a free agent tukule hiyo signing fees ya juu at the expense of using real money to get real value in terms of world class players. That is Gor’s major waterloo my friend
STOP the bickering over recruitment and offloading players . even if we finish second in 2017 (worst case scenario ) league, we are in for CAF confederation cup in 2018.
I have personally requested AR to keep the squad intact , no new additions and perhaps with a few players maybe 3-4 being offloaded on loan as i have repeatedly said here and elsewhere, in a season where there is no GOTV and no TOP 8 cups, league title is the only title on offer, why do you need all this many players ? could the above, be the reason why ze maria is doing a lot of player rotation of late ? and remember , even our only loan out player so far,baron oketch,is hardly scoring nor making big impact at ulinzi ? tafakari hayo !
We will bicker and make all the necessary noise, even weaver birds ‘bicker, sing, whistle” when weaving the nesttle, at the end of the day it has a beautifully woven nestle.