{"id":348,"date":"2012-02-10T19:49:38","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T19:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/?p=348"},"modified":"2012-02-10T19:54:56","modified_gmt":"2012-02-10T19:54:56","slug":"2012-kpl-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/news\/2012-kpl-kicks-off\/","title":{"rendered":"2012 KPL kicks off"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><span style=\"font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;\"><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;\"><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gormahia.net\/images\/gm-merreikh12.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"491\" height=\"278\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The 2012 Kenya premier league promises to be one the most exciting ones in recent history. All the top contenders have strengthened their sides. Defending champions Tusker have added pass master Peter Opiyo and Jerry Santos to what promises to be a resourceful midfield. AFC Leopards have added Allan Wanga and Eric Masika among others. Sofapaka have happily welcomed the return of James Situma<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Gor Mahia fans are eager to see the club win the national title, something the club last did in 1995. The team has changed dramatically with the addition of no less than 8 key players. Two high profile matches against Tusker and El Merreikh have given the coaching staff opportunities to study players and attempt to come up with a winning formula. So far the new team has not impressed but has shown intermittent signs of brilliance. Rama Salim&#8217;s play has shown shades of Zinedine Zidane in his prime. Now if he only he channel that into creating chances. The backline has changed completely with the addition of Yusuf Juma, David Owino and Donald Mosoti. Its an excellent trio but it may take time for them to gel and develop an understanding.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The addition of the vastly experienced Ivo Mapunda in goal will help the team especially at continental level. In midfield, hopefully Collins Okoth will put aside his issues and combine with Moses Otieno or Teddy Akumu to provide solid cover for the defence. Moses Odhiambo was one of the brightest spots last season. Hopefully he will continue his brilliant play and penchant for scoring crucial goals. The good news is that winger Dan Makori has recovered from injury and is ready to go.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The forwardline was the biggest problem last season. So far the signs have not pointed towards improvement despite the addition of Hugo Nzoka and Anthony Otieno who have yet to play and veteran George Midenyo who has not impressed so far. Baldwin Ngwa has shown some flashes of brilliance but is nursing an injury and may not be available. It is not known when Edwin Lavatsa will be back from injury. It is however too early to tell and coach Awono could very well come up with a winning formula. He did just that last season when he took over, steering the team out of the doldrums.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In 1968, Gor Mahia was formed by combining players from 3 teams. Luo Stars and Luo Union merged and a several new players were recruited from Kisumu Hotstars. The new side was able to win the league on its first attempt. Kogalo fans today will be hoping for a repeat. It happened in the past and can happen again now. Fans will also be hoping that the team starts the league well. The past two years have seen disastrous starts, most notably last year when they went down 0-3 to Rangers and in the previous year when they were in the relegation zone for the past few weeks.<\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;\"><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;\"><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Gor Mahia will kick off their campaign against Thika United on Sunday at Thika municipal stadium.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Helv; font-size: x-small;\"><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/news\/2012-kpl-kicks-off\/\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"social\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground:  !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 100% !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 The 2012 Kenya premier league promises to be one the most exciting ones in recent history. All the top<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}