Oktay protests biased officiating
Gor Mahia coach Hassan Oktay cited biased officiating as the reason his side lost to NA Hussein Dey on Sunday.
Additional reporting from the Nation
NA Hussein Dey’s Abderhamane Yusfi’s first half goal sent Gor Mahia back to second place in Group D of the Caf Confederation Cup on Sunday night in a match that was overshadowed by suspect officiating from Malian referee Boubou Traore.
Yusfi bundled the ball home in the 10th minute after midfielder Samuel Onyango had tried everything to scramble it off the line, and reserve keeper Fredrick Odhiambo had made a double save just moments earlier to keep his team in the match.
The overriding talking point of the game however, came in the second half when Hassan Oktay’s team seemed to have equalised through a header from Shafik Batambuze, but this strike was shockingly disallowed for an infringement.
The infringement, as later replayed on the big screens around the Stade du 5 Juillet in Algiers, showed Hussein Dey goalkeeper Gaya Merbah colliding with a team-mate and falling to the ground with no contact whatsoever from the K’Ogalo players.
Apart from this, Traore also flashed five yellow cards to Gor players with Nicholas Kipkirui, Tuyisenge and Onyango being first half culprits, while Francis Mustapha was yellow carded at half time on the reserve bench for complaining to the first assistant referee Baba Yombolba.
Only one Hussein Dey player was cautioned in the duration of the ill-tempered clash.
“That was the worst form of officiating I have ever seen at that level. I will be keen to read what the match assessors will have written because to me, that was a clear goal that we were denied. I don’t know what to say.
“I will speak to the coach and the club’s CEO who were present during the match and together we shall decide whether or not to write an official complaint to Caf,” said Gor chairman Ambrose Rachier.
In the match, Gor were second best in the opening period and the hosts took full advantage, administering several attacks, which was a complete opposite of the first leg match staged in Nairobi where Gor dominated the Algerians.
The defeat saw Gor drop to second in Group D with six points from four games as NA Hussein Dey rose to the top of the pile with seven. Zamalek are third and Angola’s Petro Atletico are last.
‘”We are still on course to qualifying. We need at least a draw against Zamalek and a win at home against Petro Atletico We are now focused on those two games,’ said Gor team manager Jolawi Abondo.
The K’Ogalo contingent were scheduled to leave Algiers at 4pm on Monday for Cairo where they will connect to Alexandria on Tuesday ahead of Sunday’s epic clash against Zamalek.
Focus on the next match coach.Devise away of not conceding a goal against Zmlk in Egypt and get one point.
@Papa that is normal in any team and look at it as a senior talking to a junior very normal.Haven’t you seen those goalies who run like maniacs to their defenders while shouting and shoving
As we forge ahead will it not be appropriate to have Geoffrey Ochieng and Blackberry on next flight to Egypt.I like their capabilities and in fact Berry who has no stage fright could have settled faster and fed KipYsenge.Geoffrey ni Mtu anataka kujijenga and am sure he’ll fit in well away to Zamalek.Berry can take injured Onyango place.Wendo/Ondiek should also start as Juma ata panic while I favour Oliech Jausenge up front to give Zamalek defence food for thought early.
Mimanyi is the worst defender oktay is holding to. He can’t keep position and closes his eyes when clearing aerial balls.
Defense is our main undoing. I saw Oliech picking a quarrel with Batambuze on the pitch, oliech should know better.
Are you our coach
I also watched Oliech quarrel with Batambuzi but am not impressed and this Oliech I don’t know why people think that he’s the best yet he is the worst player on the bench. Always a player is expected to bring a different from the bench but on the contrary, he has not done well from the bench or even when he’s starting.
@ Michael Ogolo….Were you in Algeria? Please leave players alone. Who is the best player you can talk of?. We are at a stage where we don’t need such kind of statement.
@Coach Oktay ,With all due respect , we already know about the officiating hence there is nothing new you are telling as , Please use all the energy you have , including this one you are using to complain to focus on Zemalek .
Secondly , I wish to challenge anybody who has at no time argued or quarelled with his Workmate , Brother , Sister , Wife , Father or Mother to please educate me on what is strange about a player arguing with another , I have seen Ronaldo just to use one example do this hundreds of times and its a non issue , Or is this one about Oliech just one more excuse to pursue an agenda because we all know and knew the phisical condition of Oliech before we signed and we all know that the coach who knows and appreciates his capacity , and is aware of his latest fitness , knows when to use him and when not to use him , Kipkirui and Tuisenge didnt rise to the occasion just like Oliech in Algiers , Oliech just like Tuisenge and kipkirui rose to the ocassion against Zemalek , all scored just like non scored in Algiers but apparently its Oliech’s problem that we didnt score in the 80minutes before he was introduced and also his and his alone that no goal was scored in the 10minutes he was on the field , but maybe we , who only have 90minutes in a week to see the players know more about the players than the coach who is with them every day of the week .
Looking at football issues are matters of the head and not the heart , football is not a telemundo soap opera .
Lets stop looking for excuses to attack players but I also believe that its Oliech’s duty to answer his critics on the pitch and I will give him that chance , after all he is barely 2months in the team .
My observation is that Gor mahia Players did very well owing to the circumstance they were in. First they didn’t have adequate time to practice due congested Kenyan league fixtures as compared to Algerians whose mid week match was canceled. Secondly the boys were suffering from jet lag and above all acclimatization problem. Finally and the most annoying one is the worst officiating i have ever witnessed. Be that as it may, i have a little issue with the GM defense formation particularly this Momanyi guy, he was careless, inaccurate in his passes and i believe it is high time Octay try somebody else in his place @Jasego and group do something in the defense and let TB consider Fredrick Odhiambo as goal keeper number one.
Sometimes it is wise just to note, point out & follow the laid down procedure to address that particular issue instead of belabouring it, why, the previous match against Tusker, Tusker were denied a clear goal and a penalty on any other day a another referee would have called it differently. This things are part of football as we wait for VAR.
K’Ogalo why this hate campaign against Dennis Oliech? Teddy Sofaset is quite right. Dennis is barely 2 months old in the team yet he has scored at least 4 goals. Kindly let us direct that attention to Mustapha and Ssekisambu. Instead of attacking Dennis, I wish we could be appealing to Lordvick Aduda to replace Ssekisambu with Dani Sserunkuma and assign Francis Mustapha duties of overseeing repairs of punctured balls.
Coach Oktal should drastically minimise his interaction with the press. This concern has been raised in this forum by other bloggers. The guy gives a lot of information to the press. Ultimately such information is used by our opponents.
@BB, You can imagine if the goal we conceeded in Algiers or the howler against Western Stima happened when Boni Oluoch was the one in Goal , the kind of vitroil on this wall from the ones who are loudly quiet on these would have reached unapologetic”earthquakic” decibels , but it is also true that just like in the biblical journey to Canaan , there will always be some impatient ones who will demand that they be led back to Egypt , not appreciating the fact that whoever wants to go back to Egypt doesnt need to be Led back , you know the way you came with , just go back using that same route , instead of cowardly societysing your emotions.
Lets have a balanced approach when we are discussing players and have a contextual perspective before we emotionally pen up self destructive , backfiring one dimensional single phase opinions.
Boni was full of errors and we made him up his game and he has improved a lot and now I am sure that even the national team coaches should give him a call to the team. Oliech is no exception and if he’s not doing well if given a chance should be told so that he can up his game. He is not God who can never be questioned. Tuyisenge was not perfect when he joined Gor mahia fc and fans mocked him and he had to try all means to perform. If Oliech entered for ten minutes and had no shot at goal and Batambuzi who played for 90mins and even scored a clean goal which was disallowed and then he rebukes him for what. Oliech owekelonwa,kwani en n’ga. Even muguna was a victim of Oliech trying to be a captain who nobody chose. He did not go through what players went through the entire n90min. His commitment to the team is also not 100pc. Let him score goals to silence us or he be ready for us. He is in Gor mahia to revive his career and not to carry Gor mahia as some people think. Awacho ayueyo joma onge yenyo un thuolo mar yanya.
If somebody is in a team “to revive his career and not to carry the team ” , how would he revive without carrying ” coz one cant happen without the other and which player in this world is not in a team to revive or enhance his career , and to revive and enhance , you have to carry the team because if you dont carry the team , there will be no revival for whatever reason brought you to the club , otherwise am glad you have though belated , acknowledgedBonny , as much as it is to appreciate the acceptance that all goalkeepers conceed and go through howlers , but taking credit for Bonny’s revival is a bit nacissistic and egocentric.
@Teddy Sofaset, what I know is that Gor Mahia has some of the best players in the great lakes region. It is the circumstances they are operating under that are difficult.
My appeal to coach Oktal to be economical with what he shares with the press also goes to the other members of the team, especially now that we are in foreign land.
That goal that we were robbed of in Algeria was so important that in itself, it would determine our qualification for the next stage. It makes our next match against Zamalek a do-or-die. For this reason I want to share with the players and TB what I have seen working for my team regarding referees: It is important to win the referee over in any game and the best way to do this is for everybody in the team (including the Tech Bench) to ignore the referee and mind their business.
We cannot be a player and a match official at the same time. If we suspect that a referee is already inclined on the side of our opponents (as will most likely be the case in Alexandria), then the most effective way of winning that referee over is to leave him alone no matter what. The entire team should concentrate on the whistle without minding who is blowing the whistle. This is what Dan was trying to say yesterday.
Any referee, however biased, will soften when he realizes that we are only focused on the game and are not out to question his decisions. In any case, it is very hard to make a referee change his mind once he has made a decision. A biased referee is nobody’s mother and he becomes more and more biased every time we seek his intervention or question his decision. If there is any talking with the referee, let the captain do it.
Ayaye Michael Odhiambo Ogolo, please just give Dennis Oliech a break. Let us not fight over this one. Oliech is a stammerer. Are you really sure that words can come out of a stammerer’s mouth in a heated argument? Please let this matter rest.
Let’s not be too critical or judgemental of our players…instead let’s encourage them to surmount the huge task ahead of them this weekend.
Let’s be positive and try give them the necessary motivation to conquer Zamalek and Petro thereafter.What some of us are discussing here might negatively affect them..so let’s be careful about what we are saying!!
Our coach should also be serious,in such a game you introduce Mustaffa??????
For what????
Nooooo
Not good
Sunday’s match against Zamalek has been scheduled at the 8,000-seater Borg El Arab stadium in Alexandria, and will be officiated by Ghanaian referee Daniel Ayi, Abel Baba from Nigeria and Isa Yaya from Chad.
I think we need to forge ahead and plan for zamalek…. they are not exceptionally good…we can beat them in their backyard ! The sofa set coaches should have applied to be Kogallo coach…spare the players the unremarkable comments ?