K’ogalo must prove mettle in Tanzania

Gor Mahia players react against Mathare United during their KPL match at Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday 12/07/15.PHOTO.BONIFACE OKENDO

From what I gather, the man who might be the next President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Joseph Magufuli will be at this afternoon’s big game of the opening day of the Cecafa Kagame Cup at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Magufuli, I can also tell is really not a soccer man and the butt in the line of the joke is that he probably does not know there are 11 players in a football team.

Yet he is such as “peoples’ candidate” that he is expected to easily win the forthcoming general election in October.

Young Africans, also known as Yanga, the football club that Kenya champions Gor Mahia clash with in the third match of the day, kick-off 4pm, is virtually a movement of over half the country; put that as “arguably”, because the other half passionately supports another Dar es Salaam side, Simba, incidentally the most successive team in the Cecafa championship which they have won a record six times.

Yanga, also dub themselves as ‘timu ya Wananchi’ (team of ordinary citizens) and its colours (green and yellow) are similar to those of the ruling political party, CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi), who will be presenting Magufuli as their candidate for the national elections.

Just because of the Yanga/CCM colour and philosophical themes, despite his perceived lack of knowledge of football, Magufuli is associated with Yanga, the club the outgoing President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete openly supports.

Magufuli’s campaign team could hardly pass up the Cecafa Cup opportunity to mingle with the populace.

Organisers are faced with a protocol nightmare on the day because Dar was also rife with the talk that Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta will be at the Stadium to cheer Gor Mahia today.

It gets more feverish when it is also speculated that leader of the opposition in Kenya, Raila Odinga, will also be coming here.

Uhuru’s Government facilitated the 30 air tickets to bring Gor Mahia’s contingent here after Football Kenya Federation (FKF) reneged on their responsibility to, like every other football association in the region, pay for the entry of their national champions in the this 11-team nation competition.

Gor arrived here on Thursday evening alongside Uganda champions Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), on the same plane from Nairobi and proceeded to stay in the same hotel here.

Otherwise, it is all system’s go for this year’s Kagame Cup, and the excitement revolves much around the presence of the Kenya champions, who are revered so much here that you can hardly imagine that their recent times have not been rosy having not won the Cup in 30 years.

Nevertheless, the passionate Tanzania football followers, expect fireworks from Gor Mahia. Their Group ‘A’ clash with Yanga today is seen as a test of who draws the first blood in a war that will not end with the match because both teams expect to eventually qualify for the knock-out stage and continue a quest for this year’s title. No one is looking forward to a tame draw.

They want to see blood. Yanga fans want to see Gor fall on the opening day but they are apprehensive that it will not be easy.

The prospects of a defeat Yanga “makes the day” for the bitter local rivals Simba supporters whose team is absent from the tournament.

In the stadium, nearly half of the eastern section that will, ironically, be draped with the “red” of Simba, will be rooting for Gor Mahia who will presumably be in their ‘away’ white strip as Yanga should be in their traditional ‘home’ green (also Gor’s home choice).

I expect Gor to do well in this year’s tournament, and put up a greater improvement from on last year in Kigali where they only drew two matches, losing two to finish bottom in a five-team Group.

The way the back-to-back current Kenyan Premier League title holders are playing back home, taking a 12-point KPL table lead two matches in the second half of the Kenyan season is awesome.

Their form largely depends on a group of serious foreign professionals such as prolific scorer Meddie Kagere of Rwanda but Kenya’s Harambee Stars front man Michael Olunga is another talent who must seize the opportunity of the Kagame Cup to prove that he could be a leading player in the region. I, particularly, am looking forward to watching the much-publicised Olunga for the first time.

All the Cecafa Kagame Cup matches will be broadcast ‘live’ by SuperSport and it will be a valuable product by the South African pay-TV provider.

A commercial war over football rights rages on in the region with Tanzania’s Azam Media Group and the Chinese Star Times bidding for a stake in the market’s most popular sport.

With Cecafa tournaments and the KPL under their wings, SuperSport maintains the pole position in the broadcast race while Azam enviably controls the Tanzania Vodacom League, the Ugandan, Rwandan and Burundi Leagues.

Azam have also, the albeit colourless, FKF-Premier League in Kenya and Star Times have an agreement to televise future friendly matches for FKF national teams.