By Gilbert Wandera
NAIROBI; KENYA: Gor Mahia find themselves in familiar territory during Saturday’s Confederations Cup return leg match against Egyptian side ENNPI at Nyayo National Stadium.
The former Kenyan champions have the tough task of overturning a 3-0 goal deficit they suffered in the first leg away.
In 2009, the club went into their return leg Confederations Cup fixture against APR of Rwanda having suffered a 5-0 loss in the first leg.
With such a huge goal deficit, Gor never made it past the first round as the Rwandese side easily sailed through after the return leg ended 1-1.
Then last year, Gor were again edged out from the first round of the competition after going down 4-0 on aggregate to Mozambican side Ferraviaro de Maputo.
History does not therefore favour the Kenyan club Saturday, but coach Zradvko Logarusic insists it can be done.
“Over the last one year, we have registered impressive results and even, in some instances, made history. We won the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) Top Eight last season, won the Cup competition and most recently ended our un-beaten run against Mathare United,
“ENNPI may be the best team in Egypt at the moment and have a bigger budget than us, but we are determined to make history by edging them out. I just want to tell our fans to watch this space,” he said.
The coach pointed out that the results of the first leg match do not reflect their true form on match day, adding that they wasted numerous chances and should have got something from the fixture.
“After the match, the players came and apologised for wasting many chances. Now they have an opportunity to make up for it in the return match Saturday,” he said.
Logarusic will be glad with the return of dependable midfielder Moses Odhiambo who has been nursing an injury.
But the team will still do without injured Paul Kiongera and may force Logarusic to start with a twin striking force of Edwin Lavatsa and Dan Ssrenkuma.
David Owino, who put up an impressive performance when turning out for the national team Harambee Stars two weeks against Nigeria in a World Cup qualifier, will be a key man in the Gor defence and must stop their opponents from scoring any more goals.
In goal, Gor captain Jerim Onyango will be on his guard to prevent the team from conceding. An away goal scored by ENNPI will just the task twice as hard for Gor.
The visitors will be content to just sit back given the huge first leg advantage. Vincente Foneye one of the scores against Gor Mahia will be keen to continue his scoring streak.
