Rachier discusses travel plans and return
Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier discusses the club’s plans for travel to Nigeria for the return leg against Lobi stars
Story courtesy of citizen sports
Uncertainty surrounds Gor Mahia’s departure to Nigeria for the Caf- Champions League first round return leg clash against Nigerian football giants Lobi Stars scheduled for Saturday.
Club chairman Ambrose Rachier says there is scarcity of space on planes plying the West Africa route hence have not been able to secure enough seats for the whole contingent of 26 players and officials.
Should the situation persist, Rachier noted the team may be forced to travel in two batches with some team members flying a Kenya Airways while others may use RwandAir.
“We only have three options; Kenya Airways, Rwanda Air and Ethiopian Airline. But none of them has enough seats for all of us,’’ Rachier told Citizen Digital.
Having won the first leg 3-1 at Kasarani last Sunday, the Kenyan football giants will require a draw of any kind to progress or at worst limit the defeat to 1-0 to progress to the money spinning group stages where a cool Ksh. 56 million lie in wait .
For Enugu, the odds are higher and they must beat the Kenyan representatives by two goals to advance on away goal rule.
Rachier was however quick to caution players against taking the return leg for granted urging them to give it their all, as in football, the final whistle is the determinant.
“We have not progressed yet and we must give it our all. Anything can happen in a game of football and we have told our boys to treat this game with all the seriousness it deserves if they want to progress,’’added Rachier.
Last season, Gor Mahia lost 1-0 on aggregate to the eventual winners Esperance of Tunisia, having settled for a barren draw at home and ended up conceding a solitary goal in Tunisia in a match played under harsh climate.
In an earlier interview, Gor Mahia captain Harun Shakava hinted that they have prepared well and will not disappoint their fans, adding that the goal is to make it to the group stages.
The inclusion of Francis Kahata in the squad a strong indication his much talked about transfer to Algerian top-tier club Constantine may not materialize after all.
Notably absent from the team to Enugu is midfielder Ernest Wendo after getting two bookings in the tournament, while Ivorian Ephrem Guikan will not make the trip as he is not registered for the tourney.
The man to watch in the return leg will be Samwel Onyango. The marauding winger bagged a brace in the first leg match at Kasarani last weekend
Let’s all pray for everything to progress successfully so that Gor makes history by qualifying. God has always seen us through despite challenges and He will not abandone us definitely.
Eat well in Kenya. Nigerian food has alot of chilli by default. They eat more chilli than Indians. It’s well ground, it upsets ur tummy if ur not used to it, causing u to drive. Most visitors carry their own food. Carry cereals, fruits and milk etc
Best of luck.
From the photo, the lay about of that stadium is not bad for a visiting team since the pitch is far away from the spectators who will naturally be rooting for the home team. If we give this game an approach similar to the one we gave Yanga at Kasarani: keeping possession and then making quick fire breaks, then we will sail through. We must not go there to defend.
Our objective must be to score at least one away goal in order to neutralize the effect of what we conceded here at home. Our holding midfielders must be on song; our attacking midfielders must have their timing right on when to launch attacks and speed stars like Sammy Onyango and Boniface Omondi would be handy in this game plan. This article would have been complete if it gave the list of the travelling party. Stating that Wendo is not travelling is not enough.
Our Organizing Secretary’s docket has 4 officers: the OS himself and 3 assistants- Basic,Gross and Net Assistant Organizing Secretaries. What have they been doing all along instead of securing space enough for the whole contingent in one airline?
As was widely expected the political heavyweights have joined the bandwagon, hopefully we get the tickets today by 3pm.
However, history is harsh on us with West African trips ! ….we always concede penalties, so I expect another dubious penalty to be awarded to lobi stars within the first 25 mins.
That penalty is the more reason why we should score at least one goal and early.
A 26-man contingent left for Lagos at 8.10am aboard Kenya Airways and will make a stop over in Accra, Ghana. From Lagos, they will need a 45-minute flight to Enugu state.
TRAVELLING SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Boniface Oluoch and Fredrick Odhiambo
Defenders: Harun Shakava, Philemon Otieno, Joash Onyango, Wellington Ochieng, Shafik Batambuze, Pascal Ogweno
Midfielders: Humphrey Mieno, Kenneth Muguna, Samuel Onyango, Boniface Omondi, Francis Kahata, George “Blackberry” Odhiambo, Cercidy Okeyo
Strikers: Erisa Ssekisambu, Jacques Tuyisenge, Francis Mustafa
Technical bench: Hassan Okay (head coach), Zedekiah Otieno (assistant coach), Jolawi Obondo (team manager), Willis Ochieng’ (goalkeeper trainer), Fredrick Otieno (team doctor)
Officials: John Pesa (vice chairman), Lordvick Aduda (CEO) and Kelvin Elegwa (FKF)
A contingent of 26 has this morning 8.10am left Jkia aboard a kenya airways plane , they will have a stopover in Accra before flying to Lagos .
I avoided commenting on this “lack of tickets” issue because it was simply not adding up , since as early as last saturday on some talk show , Ngala confirmed that they had already nailed the issue .
Some of as depend so much on Gor info from what we read in either mainstream and social media and it doesnt help anybody if some people wish to carry themselves as knowing so much about the going ons in the club (insiders) while in essense they know nothing (fake news) , this news of no money to buy air tickets was blatant nonsensical fake news and the perpetrators must be ashamed of themselves.
Its called smoking you out. This so called fake news has been used by newspapers since time immemorial. A news reporter will simply sit under a tree and write Crap about you. This forces you out of your hole so that you can make a clarification. Donald Trump simply gave it a name.
It helps if organizations have new centers that give the correct picture. Gor mahia can direct it’s fans to it’s website for the correct info or update via twitter. The problem is that the officials themselves are known liars so who will you believe?
It’s unfortunate that we will not have Wendo in the team to slow down the Ogas. We have Cecidy and we believe he will be the one to do that task which requires quite some brute force to accomplish.
All the same the timing of the flight is quite good for acclimatization. Nkana is already in Tz for the battle with Simba. This will accord us time to get used to the environment and even relax to some extent, just like we did in Tunisia and Algeria.
All the same we look forward to a good game and ALL the best team Kubwa
@Dan any attempt at using brute force in Enugu will just disadvantage us since they are playing at home at home and will most likely get all 50-50 challenges ruled in their favor. We require poise and patience with majority possession and that’s where Carrick Okeyo will help though he has to up his tempo abit which we are working on. Another option is Pascal or Wellington at fullback the Philemon goes back to DMF but this is tricky as he is acclimatized to fullback role now…We target a win away to make a statement to Africa
God is good. GM already on the way to Enugu. I take my time and study lobi home performances. 90% they always win at Home. Highest score being 3-2. Most the score 1-0. They do get a lot penalty. Therefore GM task is to frustrate them at home, ensure they ( Lobi) do not score more than 2 goals.
What system do GM employ to achieve this? 5-3-2.
Defence- onyango,shakava, bata, philemon and Pascal. Mid- Mieno ,kahata ,samuel. Attack – Mustafa and Tusenge. ( Mustafa seems to combine well with Tusenge). Mieno to play Wendos role and Kahata attacking mid behind strikers. Any other opinion Please.
November salaries were paid yesterday evening only some winning allowances are outstanding but players are happy and rearing to go…
Good, @jasego I always believe in you and I hope that everything is going to be OK in enugu.
@jasego,were the Nov18 salaries paid IN FULL & not that unpalatable 1/3 story being floated here earlier as if we expect players to put in 1/3 effort. @jamigori great writeup, actually it’s all in the archives here,first we have to dismantle the cartel.
@Oduor12, we need to dismantle the cartels and bring in a better structure. We can change the club.
I have realized that as Gor fans we thrive on negative news. Had the team not flown out today this wall would now be full of those castigating all and everything. But now that the team has left in good time we are not even asking how it has happened without us pulling hairs. Has K. Sharks also left since the plane was going to Accra thoigh they will play in Kumasi? Kudos to all who made it possible for the team to leave on good time. We pray the ALMIGHTY for positive results
It would have been easier to fly Ethiopian Airways on Thursday. It flies direct to Enugu via Addis
@Dan the problem with this site is commenting based on either misinformation or speculation. Example is when a blogger @Jakoyo dedicated our 3-1 win against Lobi Stars to Zico who he said was absent from the touchline due to a short illness. Zico was sent off in Blantyre to the stands against Nyasa Bullets and therefore was serving a one match ban from the dugout. Onto travelling and again he asserts that apparent political heavyweights are in to fundraise for the team tickets by 3pm today while team left at 9.45am. Suffice to say some think a miracle just happened and GM flew out since the club is very rich and only pretends to be broke. Stakeholders made GM travel with reimbursements expected when sports ministry PS releases the cash to KQ to cover overall ticket costs. KQ availed tickets as they have Surety that a cheque will reach them very soon from the ministry and even if it delays the stakeholders deposits are good enough to cover the cost. GM functions since it is made to do so behind the scenes by various elements…
Or EC could have used the monies advanced to it by SP. Remember SP paid up all the sponsorship due to GMFC upto Dec18 or how else was that money spent? Jasego since you wadded into the salary issue please confirm is it 1/3rd or full payment?
Kudos jasego, but what is your real name if you don’t mind please? Am Odhiambo Muga from siaya county.
Odhis Muga let me remain anonymous wuod Siaya. Team K’Ogalo is currently in Ghana Accra relaxing and we’ll be here untill Friday when we will proceed to Enugu. We are doing so to avoid mistreatment in Nigeria and Poor diet that they would subject us to to weaken us before matchday. We will train here tomorrow and acclamatize. We will win away to make history even sweeter…
ODHIS, we temo Yesu gi fegi….let Jasego remain anonymous. It is for the best for all invloved. If he were to unveil himself, guys would have a field day bashing him and blaming him for all of Gor’s ills.
@Dan Original, what you and @Jasego have said is very true , but I have come to accept that the world cannot be complete without its sad and frustrated people , a people who courtesy of their sadness and frustration have to get somebody or something to lash out and dump their frustrations , something could be 90% positive but they will focus on the negatives e.g if Gor wins a game 5-1 , instead of celebrating the big win , they will furiously weep and gnash their teeth at the lack of a clean sheet , but the situation is also not helped by the incapacity of the EC to communicate thereby giving room to the rumour mills to fill the gap and if they do , it is so disjointed that you are left more confused . It is just now that we are being informed that indeed , the reason for Zico’s absence in the 1st leg was because he was “Sick ” , these kinds of misinformations are a consequence of the disfuntional communication dept.
@Jamigori , I think the admin to this wall need to be sold to on this idea , not acting on it will only mean that we have ceded any moral authority to complain when solutions to our perpetual complaints is within our grasp .
Jasego mawuod kanyada, ondiek gima ger ringo kaa dok chien. Technical Director in waiting and as Jaramogi used to say ‘One who took the bull by the horns’. If you say left , it is left. Right , it is right. Wachana na Jakoyo mariambo ka otit mach. Get us some good goodies from Enugu. Safiri salama murudi na ushindi. By the way Jakoyo koyo mar Jakadala oromo. While you were away…
Jamriambo osiepa wabet mos Accra Ghana kae nyithindo omor then wan jodong’o metho…Nigeria idhi friday waonge haraka kucha stress ngeny okwanyal chopo chon gisandwa. Kiny ji ring’o epap kae kawa wacho achiel ariyo with Asante Kotoko who are awaiting K.Sharks to arrive later tomorrow. All is well group stage wadonjo gi otada wang’ni…
WISHING THE BOYS ALL THE BEST!
And great thanks for all the stakeholders who made the trip to West Africa for the game happen!
In GOD WE TRUST!
AND IN JASEGO WE HAVE FAITH!
In victory and glory, in defeat and agony K’Ogalo for ever!
Hehehe! Ati “gima ger ringo kaa dok chien”! Musymo where are you? Nyakwar Oganjo Rahiti should read this. Jamriambo we are few and we need each other. Let Jakadala not touch any us. Jakadala must keep off any K’Ogalo member of this site. Ja’Asego i have not got you on that beat about tomorrow and Asante Kotoko. Keep the updates without giving sensitive information to the other side. Is there an undercover agent already in Enugu to work on hotel issues?
BB i doubt Lobi Stars can check this site to get our updates but i agree caution is good before crucial encounters…
@Jasego , I think the issue of caution while giving updates on this wall is well advised , We should never lose sight of the fact that there could be amongst as here frustrated survivalists who can do anything to show that not giving Zico the overall job was a big mistake , Not that they like Zico anyway , he is just a pawn in their zero sum war of attrition-So @Jasego , beware of this .
lobi twitter admin actually posted the article about mistreatment from this blog