Gor Mahia may play in CECAFA cup
Courtesy of the Nation
Gor Mahia have indicated a willingness to replace Tusker at the Council of East and Central Football Associations (Cecafa) Club Championships that will be hosted by Sudan, starting June 18.
This is after the Kenyan Premier League champions Tusker, Thursday hinted that they would give the annual competition a pass, citing “security reasons”.
Cecafa Secretary general Nicholas Musonye confirmed Tusker’s indication to withdraw and communication with Gor over the impending vacancy at the event.
“We will welcome them (Gor) but that is the decision of the Cecafa executive committee,” Musonye said
The two-week tournament is set to take place in Southern Gordofan and North Darfur States.
“The club is yet to officially receive any security assurance from the tournament organizers and the Sudanese Government on this matter. If the situation doesn’t change by end of this week, then Tusker will not go to Sudan,” Tusker team director Charles Obiny told the Daily Nation.
This development has opened the door for Gor, who other than finishing second last season also clinched both the FKF and KPL Top 8 trophies.
“ It will be a great opportunity to represent the country at the Cecafa tournament although it’s still pre-mature because this has not been in our plans. The club’s management will meet tomorrow (today) and I am sure that is one of the issues that will be on the agenda,” Gor Secretary General George Bwana revealed.
Musonye rubbished the team’s security concerns and hinted that any team withdrawing at the eleventh hour would be reprimanded by the council’s executive.
“This (withdrawal) is an unfortunate development but it’s upto the clubs to decide whether to come and gain experience against the best teams in the region or compete in the local league that takes them nowhere,” a visibly angry Musonye said. “This has nothing to do with security, it’s politics.”
and mischief as usual, but Cecafa will not be cowed and we are ready to work with the teams that are interested in football development,” he added.
Sudanese clubs Al Hilal and Al Merrekh are reported to have already withdrawn from the competition.
Ethiopian champions St George have also opted out so as to concentrate on their African Confederation Cup campaign.
If CECAFA is an all expense paid tournament,then I totally concur with @ Kassam (previous article) that Mighty K’galo should by all means take part.However if this is an opportunity for the executive community to start a “Mbao to Dafur”,then forget it.
Am not oblivious of the security concern,but I think CECAFA/Musonye’s assurance are enough guarantee.
There is one thing Kassam has said that many in the K’galo fraternity seem to ignore (except a majority of bloggers) “GOR MAHIA IS FIRST AND FOREMOST A (GREAT) FOOTBALL CLUB”.ONLY BY PLAYING OUR BEAUTIFUL CARPET AND WINNING TROPHIES WILL MAKE K’GALO RECLAIM ITS GLORY.
There is this hype that TPL is the most competitive league in the CECAFA region, that Logarusic is tatically astute (administratively I’ve never doubted him). Well then lets step up to the challenge and if possible GO TO DAFUR.
If not successful in CECAFA then our TB/players will have gained valuable experience not to mention the chance of indentifying the midfield talent (and others) currently lacking in our squad.
Contd..
As said by some our chances of winning the league are 50-50 maybe even 40-60.And won’t be affected much by going to CECAFA.
Back to K’galo official / Upcoming elections
What’s your take? My take
1.Chairman-A.R vs ??-As for me his +ves outweigh his -ves, Is there a former player upto this task.
2.Vice Chair-Dr.Obwaka vs Killo/Faiz/the other guy
3.Sec.Gen-Nahason Oluoch Lule vs G.Bwana
4.Treasurer- Is their a former player with financial background.
5. Where do can we fit Sianga.Couldn’t he be more effective as an official since many bloggers seem to identify with his long term technical vision for K’galo
Some may say the introducing this topic now will rock the boat, but remember for the incumbents the secret weapon to winning is to keep the date secret and catch you unprepared.
Why should we participate in a tournament that the best team’s r withdrawing?simba,tusker,st georges,elmereik etc,furthermore wot value wil it add,unless we wnt 2 risk our players with injuries.let kogalo earn its participation in next yrs edition by winning the tpl wich i biliv we r on track
Normally I would be elated about playing in CECAFA, But this year GM are playing badly and likely cannot win CECAFA. Secondly, the team has far too many injuries.
forget CECAFA…lets just go for the TPL!!!
@Kassam and Oduor12 while I acknowledge your arguments for participation as well-founded, kindly allow me to read from a different script regarding our participation in this tournament. I am with Stevo, Joe and Fred on this one. We should earn our place and beside the injuries we don’t have a formidable outfit. Participating in this competition will only add us more heartache and injuries and cost us every realistic chance of clinching the TPL.
since the best teams have withdrawn from CECAFA,CECAFA is the only trophy we can win this season ! forget TPL !
I wish they do. The so called Green Army fans who are used to bullying poor hawkers should accompany the team and lets see how they measure against the the Dafur fans. I doubt that they will even have the strength to pick and throw a stone.
Bwana Ingo or Ingoho whichever name u r go built stall around city stadi n bama that u raised down bfore u talk here useless
Sianga should be the youth director of Gor Mahia.
Seriously we need under 14 and under 17 youth teams.
Guys this argument of let’s concentrate on this competition is what caused Ingwe to comeout trophyless. We all remember them saying that the had no time for FKF Cup or the top 8 and wanted to concventrate on the TPL which they performed as we all know. If CECAFA is an all-pad trip which will not drain our coffers we can go fo it. Had we qualifeied for top 8 final that could have been a match more. And what if we had progressed in the CAF cup, what would we have said? That we have too many injuries to proceed? I’m sure we have players who are really looking at that forum to shine. We also urge the EC to recruit so and so from another country because we saw the player shin in CECAFA
Yes DAN, that’s the way forward.
Actually going by the way we play nowadays,and what has been happening in recent years, i consider the league a 50-50 competition and i would we rather take on these tournaments.
I repeat, Denmark won the Euro on invitation so it doesn’t matter winning it by qualification or by ‘right’.
This is entertainment. You can’t be sure of any trophy, i revisit my previous blog related to what bro Dan has mentioned above. Let’s learn from Ingwe’s last season going to the extent of boycotting top 8.
To me its not surprising the TZ teams are storming out of Cecafa, just last year they refused to play some matches to hold CECAFA management at ransom, while the Ethiopian team is just excited to go the far they have..its African to be over excited about normal things. i can’t say much about the mereiks and ilals but people can see unprofessional ism,politics sabotage and pure primitive behavior. Look at Tursker citing insecurity..insecurity! They also think concentrating on the league is a convincing line.
Bure kabisa.
Let us not risk our players’ and technical benchs’ lives. If teams are withdrawing due to security reasons, who are we to go ahead? Let us look at all the three sides of the coin.