Was Gor Mahia’s coach Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno playing mind games days ago when he claimed that his team had given up winning the Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKF-PL) title?
After Gor’s 1-1 draw with bitter rivals AFC Leopards at Raila Odinga Stadium in Homa Bay County on June 2, Otieno said Gor were shifting their focus to the domestic Cup competition (Mozzart Bet Cup), and admitted that league leaders Kenya Police held a significant advantage in the title race.
But speaking after the team’s training session on Friday at M-Pesa Foundation Academy in Thika, Otieno said that although chances of Gor defending the title are slim, they will give their best against Ulinzi Stars on Sunday “because anything is possible in football”. The match will take place at Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi from 3pm.
Police top the 18-team table of standings with 61 points, while Gor are second with 55 points. Tusker are third on 55 with an inferior goal aggregate. Police could seal their maiden FKF-PL title with a draw against Shabana FC at Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos.
However, a loss for Police - coupled with a Gor win over soldiers would throw the title race into a dramatic final-day showdown on June 22. On the flip side, if Gor falter against Ulinzi, Police will clinch the title regardless of their result against Shabana.
“Anything can happen in football,” said Otieno. “As of now we are still in contention (for the title) although it might look that we have a slim chance but it can be turned into a big advantage. We just need to remain focused as a group and give our best against Ulinzi, try and win the match after that we will know what happens.”
In remaining hopeful that Shabana could upset Police, Otieno cited the 2022 World Cup match in Qatar where underdogs Saudi Arabia humbled Argentina 2-1 in the group stage. Despite the shocking defeat, Argentina went on to lift the title, defeating France 4-3 in post-match penalties after the teams drew 3-3 in regular time.
“We saw Saudi Arabia beating Argentina in the World Cup, so in football nothing is permanent,” said the coach, urging the club’s supporters to show up in large numbers in their match against Ulinzi.
Gor are seeking to extend their lead as the most successful side in the history of the competition to an impressive 22nd title. K’Ogalo have lifted the last two titles.
“I don’t think there is any other chance (to win the league). As you can see the gap is widening between us and Police and now we cannot talk about the league anymore,” said a disappointed Otieno after their draw against Leopards.
Against Ulinzi, Gor will be seeking to bounce back to winning ways after failing to secure a victory in their last three league matches – registering two draws and a loss. Eleventh-placed Ulinzi have also not won in their last three league – losing once and drawing twice.
On the other hand, Police defeated FC Talanta 1-0 in their last league match on May 18 while fifth-placed Shabana lost 1-0 to newcomers Mara Sugar. Shabana defeated Police 1-0 in their first-leg meeting.
Gor captain Philemon Otieno said they will strive to win the two matches as they want to end the season on a high.
“After the derby, we have had enough rest, so we are looking forward to having a good game (against Ulinzi). As a team we want to finish on a high so we just need to give it our all as players and make sure we win the last two matches,” said Otieno.
“We are pushing to make sure that we make them (their fans) happy by the end of the season.” In a previous interview with Nation Sport, Ndayiragije expressed confidence that they will win the title against Shabana. “We are going to make history and win the league against Shabana SO that we just play our last game against them (Gor) without any pressure,” said Ndayiragije.
KCB vs Nairobi City Stars - (SportPesa Arena, Murang’a)
Mara Sugar vs Murang’a Seal - (Green Stadium, Awendo)
Kenya Police vs Shabana - (Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos)
