Hunt shifts to local show after continental blows: Premier League expected to be more lively after top guns exit African ties

Stima’s Dennis Onkangi celebrates with teammates after scoring against Chemilil at Bukhungu Stadium last year. They are league leaders. [PHOTO: BENJAMIN SAKWA/ STANDARD]

By Sean cardovillis

Kenyan football spent the week assessing what went wrong with its two club representatives, after they crashed out of their continental club competitions in contrasting styles.

SuperSport commentator Herbert Mwachiro is also the local football analyst on my radio show and has the latest news:

AFC Leopards lost their Confederations tie to South Africa’s SuperSport United mainly due to poor preparation.

You don’t arrive for a match at 3am on the day of the match because you couldn’t get your visas processed on time!

In addition, beleaguered AFC coach James Nandwa admitted afterwards he had never watched SuperSport United on video; inexcusable in this day and age.

Nandwa is a man under pressure. He was given 180 minutes to improve the team’s fortunes after a disappointing start to the season. That has been halved, if he lasts the weekend, after their midweek Kenyan Premier League (KPL) loss in Muhoroni.

Former Tanzania national coach Kim Paulson could be the man to take over AFC, as he has stated he wants to manage a big club after being relieved of his duties with Taifa Stars.

World-class team

As for Gor Mahia, the gap between them and Esperance was ruthlessly exposed in their Champions League return leg clash in Tunis. The Tunisians showed the Kenyans what a world-class team looks like, through their facilities and superior finances – and they treated Gor like kings, unlike other teams in Africa!

Only time will tell if both teams will apply the lessons learnt from their African adventures.

Moving to the KPL, and withstanding Leopards’ loss on Wednesday, teams will have to be weary of a post-continental backlash from both Gor and AFC; although the latter will be feeling the exit of journeyman Peter Opiyo, who’s off to play for Finland’s Premier League side FF Jaro, who finished 10th in last season’s competition. They last won the league in 1996.

Number three

Here, the league suffered coaching casualty number three, with Muhoroni demoting coach Patrick Odhiambo after exactly five months and eight days on the job.

New coach Francis Baraza was fired from Western Stima just three weeks ago, but has bounced back in style with the midweek win over Leopards.

KPL continues to surprise, with Western Stima coach Henry Omino (who’s on his second stint at the club) taking the team to the top of the league after beating winless Top Fry.

Sofapaka, one of the favourites for the title, are suffering from inconsistency, having won two and lost two, and the big question is: where are the two Burundians signed on for this season? They’ve not been seen since the Chan tournament in South Africa.

Tusker and their coach, Francis Kimanzi, are one of the six unbeaten teams this season. Their true test will come when they play Gor, AFC or Sofapaka.

In the meantime, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) continued with their good run, winning last week; they play Sony Sugar in the live SuperSport broadcast this afternoon.

In rugby, I must admit I was surprised by the Tusker Simba XVs win last Saturday against EP Kings in their debut Vodacom Cup match.

Even though the tournament is a third-tier event in South Africa behind Super Rugby and the Currie Cup, I thought the Kenyans would struggle against their opposition, but give credit to Jerome Paarwater’s men who took the game to the opposition and came out with a creditable 17-10 win.

The Tusker boys face the SWD Eagles in Cape Town today, with Paarwater making 11 changes to last weekend’s side.

Consistency will be the key in terms of technique and fitness, and local rugby fans will have to remember that this is a two-month tournament during which Kenya will face much tougher opposition – one-sided scores are possibly in the offing.

But why is the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) diluting local tournaments by playing different competitions at the same time?

The Kenya Cup play-offs have been postponed for two months to accommodate the Vodacom Cup.

The ongoing Enterprise Cup will be ‘infiltrated’ by the Bamburi Super Series over the next few weeks and the Bamburi final will be on the same day as an international between the Tusker Simba XVs and Western Province here in Nairobi!

Different tournaments

KRU must be sympathetic to sponsors, if they want to keep them, and also realise that the quality of the local game is going to be compromised with so many different tournaments and matches scheduled for the same time.

This is Kenya, not South Africa, where the depth of the game is infinitely more evident.

Moving on to rallying, Alistair Cavanagh and Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo both received their S2000 category Proton rally cars from Malaysia this week.

The cars have a restricted top speed of 186kph, but should be more competitive than their Group N counterparts in twisty stages.

This milestone in Kenyan motorsports should really bring the crowds out, as Tundo and Cavanagh are two of the most