• Gor Mahia coach Hasan Oktay will not have the luxury of selecting five of his dependable players in the quarterfinals of the Caf Confederations Cup for accumulating cards
Image: ERICK BARASA
Gor Mahia coach Hasan Oktay will not have the luxury of selecting five of his dependable players in the quarterfinals of the Caf Confederations Cup for accumulating cards.
Holding midfielder Ernest Wendo and Ugandan left back Shafiq Batambuze will miss the first leg of the match after being red-carded last weekend against Petro Atletico of Angola in the final group stage match.
Red-hot forward Jacques Tuyisenge, Boniface Omondi and goalkeeper Fredrick Odhiambo picked their second successive cards in the same match and will be ineligible to play in the first leg In the absence of Tuyisenge, who has been impressive thus far in the tournament, Oktay will look upon veteran striker Dennis Oliech and Nicholas Kipkirui for goals while Erisa Ssekisambu and Francis Mustafa will provide options.
Oktay will have to summon former Western Stima left back Geoffrey Ochieng to replace Batambuze while George Odhiambo will replace Omondi on the attacking flank. The tactician will, however, have to sweat on the fitness of first-choice goalkeeper Boniface Oluoch and Kenneth Muguna who are set to fill in for Odhiambo and Wendo respectively.
Meanwhile, Oktay is hoping to sign three players in the ongoing transfer window as he seeks to beef up his squad for the remaining bit of the 2018-2019 season. Gor will have to juggle between retaining the SportPesa Premier League, reclaiming the Shield Cup and progressing further in the CAF Confederations Cup and Oktay believes three quality players will help seal the loopholes identified in the past matches.
The Cypriot coach has a defender, a forward and a winger on his wish list and he is confident of landing signatures of quality players whom he said will help the club in their quest to advance further in the final knock out stages of the continental tournament and win their domestic matches.
Gor defied a numerical disadvantage to sail to the quarterfinals of the Confederations Cup, edging Petro Atletico of Angola 1-0 in the final Group ‘D’ match to emerge runners up in the pool behind Zamalek of Egypt and will know their opponents in the last eight tomorrow. The Kenyan champions are placed second in the league with 32 points and have two matches in hand.
Still, K’Ogalo are set to play Kenpoly in the Shield Cup round of 32. The piling of both domestic and continental fixtures have forced Oktay to open up on his intentions of bringing three players but insisted that he will work with the current squad should he fail to lure quality players.
“I want to sign three players in the ongoing transfer market. I want a striker, a defender and a wide player (attacking). I already have one whom I have identified and I hope I will be able to get two more. Should I fail to get players habouring the qualities I want, then I will work with the ones I have for I am comfortable with them.” The coach further asked the Confederations of African Football to crack their whip on biased officials after he was sent to the stands on Sunday against Atletico and had two of his players; Ernest Wendo and Shafiq Batambuze sent off.
Oktay questioned a number of calls by the Moroccan referee who manned their match against Petro Atletico over the weekend and the Malian official who handled their match away to NA Hussein Dey where Gor were denied what appeared to be a legitimate goal. “It’s time CAF looks in this officiating issue for we have suffered a lot. I ask them to appoint officials who can understand the preferred languages by either side and who are not biased. I was sent off against Atletico for a miscommunication with the centre referee whom I think he didn’t understand my English.”