So what if the Gunners are out of the Carling Cup?
Oh ye Gunners of little faith! So we are out of the Carling Cup; big deal! The Carling Cup is what actually ruined our 2010 – 2011 season. It was following that loss to Birmingham City in the final that marked the beginning of another trophy-less season for us. The Carling Cup cost us time and fatigue of players that we couldn’t afford; and we lost our spirit after that final.
I strongly believe that had we not been in the Carling Cup final then we would not have lost to Barcelona at the Nou Camp; and we would have stood a better chance agains Manchester United in the FA Cup way back in March. Winning the Carling Cup is like awarding you with “yokozuna” at the expense of you going on to win Scotch whisky?
So I am not shedding a single tear for being knocked out of the tournament, more so by a Manchester City who we schooled on Tuesday night. Infact City were lucky that we weren’t playing our big boys or else. Watch this space in the league and see whether City can get past us. 18th of December is when Arsenal will make the trip to Manchester in the league and I can’t wait! The Red Devil fans ran riot on facebook and twitter following our exit from the Carling Cup but little did they know that their turn was coming. Infact theirs was worse because they lost to Championship side Crystal Palace who are currently 12th in the second tier league. Tee hee.
Away from the Gunners to take time to congratulate Tusker FC for winning the Kenya Premier league 2011 title. Tusker fought a good fight; and even though they stumbled somewhat towards the end of the season, they held on to win it.
Ulinzi Stars, Sofapaka and Gor Mahia were just not good enough to compete. So well done Sammy Omollo and all the best next season. I don’t have enough room here for a full tribute to Tusker FC so please check out my blog on supersport.com for that one. The next formal round of local football action will be in late January when Tusker meet Gor Mahia in the Super Cup which pits the winner of the league vs the winner of the FKL Cup.
Mmmh… The continental tournaments begin soon after and then the league returns in mid to late February. For now I want to congratulate everyone who made the 2011 season a success; the players; the coaches; the referees, the journalists; the team sponsors, Managing Director Jack Oguda and his staff and of course to Supersport for bringing a huge number of live games to you throughout the season. But the biggest kudos goes to you the fans, who support the local league.
Imagine without you the league cannot improve. I challenge more fans though to consciously decide to play a bigger role in supporting local football next season. But this moment belongs to Tusker FC. Congrats guys, you deserve it!
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