Champs at home but losers abroad: Case of Tusker and Gor Mahia

Tusker FC team celebrates with their trophie after beating BIDCO United 2-1 to clinch FKF Premier League Champion at Utalii Sports Ground in Nairobi on Sunday August 22,2021[Boniface okendo,Standard]

Since 2017, the FKF Premier League title was dominated by one club, Gor Mahia.

Whether they started the league on the back foot or fired coaches midway through a season, nobody dared stop or challenge the mighty K’Ogalo who would easily gain ground over early league leaders to win the title for a record four-times in a row.

However, the 2021 season proved a hard nut to crack for the record Kenyan champions.

From never winning any silverware in the last five years, to lifting FKF Premier League title, Tusker dethroned the Green Army, bringing to a halt Gor Mahia’s five-year dominance in the competition.

The brewers finished top with 65 points with their closest rivals KCB coming second with 62 points while Bandari and AFC Leopards closed the top four.

In the process, Tusker under the tutelage of veteran coach Robert Matano, dethroned record Kenyan champion Gor from the top seat, which they have been occupying since 2017.

In the last decade, the title has been shared between Tusker and Gor Mahia with the brewers winning it four times (2011, 20212, 2016 and 2021) compared with Gor’s seven.

With Gor failing to keep up with the pace, Tusker rose to the occasion to win 19 rounds of matches, drew eight and lost only five in the 32 rounds of matches played.

When did this turnaround happen? There are several factors, but perhaps key amongst them was head coach Robert Matano.

In the last 10 years, Tusker have won the league thrice and Matano has been the mastermind in two of the three occasions.

Matano won his first silverware with the brewers during his first stint in 2012 before helping Tusker seal its 12th Premier League title in the just concluded 2021 season.

It is these achievements that saw the former AFC Leopards coach win the 2021 FKF Premier League Coach of the Year award.

Tusker dominated the awards scooping four out of the 12 categories that were in contention.

Apart from Matano, Tusker captain Eugene Asike took the Defender of the Year award, while Henry Mejja won the Young Player of the Year award. George Opondo was named the Team Manager of the Year.

Tusker FC team celebrates with their trophie after beating BIDCO United 2-1 to clinch FKF Premier League Champion at Utalii Sports Ground in Nairobi on Sunday August 22,2021[Boniface okendo,Standard]

Tusker also outsmarted Gor Mahia again by qualifying for the Caf Champions League in June.

On May 17, FKF announced that Kenya’s representatives in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League will be the team that would top the league standings as at June 30.

Previously, league winners usually earned a direct ticket to the CAF Champions League.

Gor Mahia on the other did not end the season empty handed too after defeating arch-rivals AFC Leopards 4-1 on penalties to win the 2021 Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Cup.

The victory saw Gor qualify for Caf Confederation Cup after missing out on the Champions League slot.

Meanwhile, it was not only Tusker’s season to savour but Mathare United’s too. The Slum Boys, under the leadership of coach Frank Ouna, survived relegation after toying with relegation for the better part of the season.

When Ouna took charge of the side on May 18, Mathare had won only one match and were staring at the exit door with seven points from 14 rounds of matches under ex-coach Salim Ali.

However, Ouna’s magic woke up the 2008 champions who went on to win seven matches and survive the drop after finishing 15th with 30 points.

The 2021 campaign had its ups and downs too. One of the positives saw Kariobangi Sharks striker Eric Kapaito bag the golden boot with 24 goals, improving on his 2016 tally of 16.

AFC Leopards’ Elvis Rupia followed with 17 goals while Sofapaka’s Lawrence Juma finished third on 16 goals.

Ulinzi Stars custodian James Saruni kept 12 clean sheets followed by KCB’s Joseph Okoth, who had 11.

Despite the local heroics by Tusker and Gor Mahia, the story was totally different on the international club competitions.

Gor Mahia failed to qualify for the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup for the third year in a row, while Tusker, who were returning to the CAF competitions after a four-year hiatus, also failed to impress.

After missing out on the league title, which they had won on four consecutive times, Gor Mahia won FKF Cup to grace the second tier African club competition, Caf Confederations Cup.

K’Ogalo were exempted from the preliminary round of the competition and were drawn against Sudan’s Al Ahly Merowe in the first round, which they convincingly won 3-1 in Egypt, on October 15.

The Sudanese side failed to honour the second leg a week later due to financial distress, giving K’Ogalo a direct ticket to the play-offs.

Gor were eliminated in the play-offs by AS Otoho d’Oyo of Republic of Congo on 2-1 aggregate. K’Ogalo lost the first leg 1-0 on November 28 and drew the second 1-1 on December 5 at Nyayo Stadium.

In the previous two seasons, Gor had been knocked out at the same stage by Zambia’s Napsa Stars and DC Motema Pembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

However, Gor Mahia coach Mark Harrison blamed their poor performance on having a lean squad in their Caf assignments due to an existing Fifa ban on player registration.

On their part, Tusker began their campaign in the preliminary round by knocking out Arta Solar 7 of Djibouti 4-1 on aggregate. The brewers won the second leg 3-0 at Nyayo Stadium on September 18 after a 1-1 draw in Djibouti a week earlier.

Matano’s men lost 5-0 on aggregate to Egypt’s Zamalek in the first round to exit the competition. The brewers lost 4-0 at the Borg El Arab Stadium on October 22 having lost 1-0 at Nyayo a week earlier and were relegated to CAF Confederation Cup play off stage.

Matano’s poor record against North African continued as they lost to CS Sfaxien of Tunisia.

The 12-time league champions went down 1-0 at the Taieb Mhiri Stadium in a match Tanzanian defender Karlos Kirenge was red carded late in the contest.

The brewers’ poor performance was attributed to almost a total overhaul of the squad in which they axed 14 players who helped them win the league and signed 16 others.

With both Gor and Tusker being eliminated in the play-off stage, the only best performance for Kenyan clubs in recent times remains the 2018/19 season where K’Ogalo reached the quarter-finals but were bundled out 7-1 on aggregate by RS Berkane of Morocco.