{"id":5524,"date":"2014-10-24T02:35:31","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T02:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/?p=5524"},"modified":"2014-10-24T12:20:43","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T12:20:43","slug":"gor-mahia-sofapaka-in-crucial-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/news\/gor-mahia-sofapaka-in-crucial-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"Gor Mahia, Sofapaka in crucial encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/gormahia.net\/images\/pierre-celeb-top-fry.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"470\" height=\"474\" \/><\/p>\n<p>League matches rarely come with such heightened importance as the one this Sunday between defending champions Gor Mahia and Sofapaka. These are the two teams at the top of the league and are seperated by only four points with three matches left.<\/p>\n<h3>Tusker awarded points<\/h3>\n<p>The KPL has inexplicably awarded Tusker all three points in their disputed match against Muhoroni. While the decision is shocking, it is not surprising when coming from Jack Oguda and KPL. Last year he SoNy caused the abandonment of their match against Gor Mahia yet instead of immediately awarding Gor Mahia the match, he dilly dallied and waited. He even went as far as disregarding a FKF directive.\u00a0 It was only after Gor Mahia had basically won the league that he eventually decided to award the match to Gor Mahia. And earlier this year, Tusker escaped sanctions after their players and officials accosted and manhandled a referee.<\/p>\n<h3>Three Horse Race<\/h3>\n<p>With Tusker now back in the hunt, all three teams have a mathematical chance of winning the title. A win for Gor Mahia will knock Sofapaka out of contention. But Tusker will still be in contention whereas Gor Mahia will now need only a point from their last two matches. A draw will benefit Tusker as it will leave them with a chance to move level with Sofapaka and within four points of Gor Mahia. And of course a loss for Gor Mahia will complicate matters as all teams could now move within three points of each other.<\/p>\n<h3>Focus<\/h3>\n<p>Gor Mahia must therefore be hyper-focused and vigilant as they have been over the past few matches. Aside from the match against Tusker, Gor Mahia have been rock solid. And they will need to be even more solid against Sofapaka who are in good form. They have recently beaten KRA 3-2 before recording an impressive 2-0 win over AFC Leopards.<\/p>\n<div>Coach Frank Nuttall summed up their expectations after Sunday\u2019s victory:\u201dWe played well to stop United and are looking forward to a similar performance against Sofapaka. The boys were amazing and we hope to maintain the same spirit in our coming fixture.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h3>Recent Matches<\/h3>\n<div>\n<p>Last season Gor Mahia met Sofapaka in a crucial league encounter at the end of the season. On that occasion it was Dan Sserunkuma who sunk Sofapaka with a well taken goal following a flick from Patrick Oboya.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Indeed Gor Mahia has had the upper hand over Sofapaka in recent matches. During the first leg match of 2013, Gor Mahia won 1-0 thanks to\u00a0 a well taken goal by Kiongera following a superb run by Lavatsa on the left flank.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And in May of this season, Gor Mahia beat Sofapaka 2-1 with goals by Sserunkuma and Rama Salim who had a whale of a game, giving the Sofapaka defence nightmares.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Gor Mahia fans will be hoping that they their side continue their recent form against Sofapaka. Sserunkuma re-iterated the importance of taking the match seriously<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>&#8220;Sofapaka are a good side who are also keen on winning the KPL title. We expect a tough match against them on Sunday and for this reason, we must all be at our best. It will not be an easy match and we need to maintain our focus all through.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h3>Fans are the Key but they must behave<\/h3>\n<p>The 12th man has carried Gor Mahia on several occasions. They must show up in large numbers for this match that is tentatively scheduled for Machakos. They must lift the team but remain peaceful while keeping in mind the harsh sanctions that have been levied against AFC Leopards. Fans remember that whatever happens on Sunday, Gor Mahia will still be leading the league with two matches left. So get behind the team but remain peaceful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\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\/gor-mahia-sofapaka-in-crucial-encounter\/\"\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>League matches rarely come with such heightened importance as the one this Sunday between defending champions Gor Mahia and Sofapaka.<\/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":[132,228],"class_list":["post-5524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-gor-mahia-kenya-premier-league","tag-gor-mahia-vs-sofapaka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5524","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=5524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}