Azam Vs Gor Mahia

Two contrasting sides will face each other in this year’s Kagame Cup final on Sunday. Hosts Azam beat Uganda’s KCCA 1-0 in the semis while Kenya’s Gor Mahia thrashed Al Khartoum 3-1 to set up the battle royale.

From day one, Azam was among the tournament favorites and rightly so – the monied Ice Cream makers have it all, from splendid organization off the field, backed by world class training facilities at the Azam Complex, the team has also invested hugely in a quality squad with massive depth.

They boasts of a scary attacking force consisting of top strikers including Kipre Tche Tche and John Bocco sourced from around the continent and a mean defense marshaled by Ivorian Pascal Wawa. The team is yet to concede a goal in open play.

Gor Mahia on the other hand is a hot bed of individual talents and team play, lead by tactically astute Frank Nuttall and powered by loyal, enthusiastic, loud and proud “Green Army”. Yes, K’Ogalo fans have followed the team to Dar,and more are expected to travel for the final tomorrow.

This team has surprised both supporters and secret admirers as well as haters, who expected them to reach this far anyway?

The match tomorrow will be closely contested because both teams employ power play to subdue their opponents and as I mentioned they also boast of quality players within their ranks. One critical issue however could come to play tomorrow – fatigue; both teams have played up to six games within the short period with minimal rest time.

Azam Coach Stewrt Hall admitted to his players running out of gas in the semi final win over KCCA. He also tipped K’Ogalo to be in much better shape when they lock horns tomorrow owing to the fact that KPL is active unlike Tanzania Premier League which is in recession.

“We are short of match fitness compared to Gor Mahia. Our league is yet to start but our opponents have played more than fifteen games in their league so they are coming to this in a better shape than us,” Hall remarked.
One of Gor’s major strength in this tournament has been their high fitness levels, they have been able to push their opponents to the last whistle with almost the same stamina. Coupled with highly lethal attacking force that has so far scored the highest number of goals in the tournament, they have also managed to stage two big comebacks against Yanga and Al Khartoum after conceding first.

Gor’s Michael Olunga leads the hunt for golden boot with five goals followed by Khartoum’s Salah Bilal with one less, the Geospatial engineering student will be the target man for Gor tomorrow, his partnership with Meddie Kagere who has netted twice has been menacing to opposing teams.

Coach Frank Nuttall has made his intentions crystal clear and he will be going for nothing short of the crown.
“ Our target changed the moment we won the quarter-finals. After that match, we reassessed our goals and now we are looking forward to produce a top performance on Sunday and hopefully win the league (KPL),” Nuttall said.

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Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com