NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 5 – Gor Mahia stand-in head coach Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo is banking on his captain Kenneth Muguna to be a game changer when they welcome advantaged CR Belouizdad of Algeria in the return leg of the second round of CAF Champions League match on Wednesday at the Nyayo National Stadium.
The record 18-time Kenyan champions missed the services of instrumental Muguna who was ruled out with injury, but he is now fully fit to play the crucial match.
Kenyan champions K’Ogalo have a mountain to climb as they will be out to challenge a huge 6-0 defeat, they suffered in the first leg played away in Algiers. But that is not a bother to confident coach Omollo who called on his charges to go out and enjoy the game.
Gor will need to score seven goals and keep a clean sheet against the Algerian champions for them to progress to the prestigious group stages but a defeat will relegate them to the CAF Confederation Cup playoff.
“I am happy with the preparations; we have had two serious days of preparations. I am pleased to have all players available for selection especially for Muguna who looked sharp and hungry to perform, I hope he is going to be a game changer because we missed him in Algiers,” said a poised Omollo after the team’s last day training at the Nyayo Stadium.
“We have no pressure, I have spoken to the boys and told them to go enjoy the game, of course it will be important if we can get good results, but is we don’t it is also a good platform of succeeding the Confederation Cup since we will have more time to prepare than we did in the Champions League,” Gor Mahia old-boy Omollo stated.
He added; “ This is football and we are going to compete, we want to give out best and I have told the players no matter the results we got in Algeria, we have to give more than 100 percent and the commitment I have seen in training is high and I am confident we will post good results.”
Skipper Muguna was glad to be back, expressing optimism that they can make history in overturning the big loss and progress to the next round.
“So far it has been great, I am ready for selection I came yesterday (Monday) but the other guys have been training well. Yes, it is possible to overturn the results. They scored within 90 minutes and tomorrow (Wednesday) we have another 90 minutes so it’s possible, we will fight till the end. It will be a boost playing at home and everybody is ready for the match.
The match that is scheduled to kick-off at 3pm local time will be played under closed doors due to the COVID-19 protocols but will be beamed live on BetSafe social media handles.