Gor Mahia coach Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno has refuted being under pressure to match the success of his predecessor Dylan Kerr when he leads his charges against Malawi’s Nyasa Bullets in the first leg of the opening round of the Caf Champions League at Moi Stadium, Kasarani.
Zico picked the leadership mantle from the departed Briton two weeks ago and will have his coaching credentials put to severe scrutiny when the Kenyan champions seek to arrest their poor run in the lucrative tournament.
Zico led his charges to their final training yesterday at Kasarani, where six of his stars mysteriously missed the session. However, the former Harambee Stars coach said their absence will not disrupt his plans
Play maker Francis Kahata, right-back Karim Nizigiyimana, Joachim Oluoch, Ephrem Guikan, Raphael Asudi, Innocent Wafula and Eliud Lokuwam were unavailable but Zico identified their replacements and challenged them to capitalise on the chance and prove a point. New signing Nicholas Kipkirui also skipped the training.
The session attended by the club’s chairman Ambrose Rachier saw four of the eight new signings take part and are expected to fight for starting berths.The Ugandan duo of Erisa Ssekisambu and Shafique Batambuze trained alongside newbies Kenneth Muguna and Pascal Ogweno.
Despite missing the services of the unavailable players, Zico said the 22 players at his disposal will deliver a convincing home win. “I am confident of a huge home win as we have been training for the match even before jetting to Everton.
“ I have all reasons to be confident as the players are looking sharp and we will be playing before our home fans and I believe we will carry the day.
“I will miss several players due to various reasons but I have 22 players who are capable of delivering a convincing win. I challenge the available players to give their best and bring more competition in the team. I have worked with Kerr for one and half years and I am not under pressure to match the success we achieved when he was around,” he said.
The match expected to kick off at 7pm will see Gor fight for a big home win before heading south for the return match a week later. Should K’ogalo proceed to the next round, they will play the winner between UMS De Loum of Cameroon and Lodi Stars of Nigeria.