Gor Aces Shakava, Onyango Out Of New Star Confed Cup Tie

NAIROBI, Kenya- Kenya’s champions, Gor Mahia FC will face New Star de Douala of Cameroon in their CAF Confederation Cup play-off first leg fixture at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi on Sunday without two key center backs who have been suspended by the continental football governing body.

Team captain, Harun Shakava and Joash Onyango, will miss the tie over disciplinary issues that arose in their CAF Champions League knock-out game against Lobi Stars FC in Enugu, Nigeria last month .

Part of the CAF letter dated December 29, 2018 and posted on the club’s website http://gormahiafc.co.ke reads:

“We remind you that the referee report is authoritative regarding incidences that occurred on the field of play.

"The referee reported to the Disciplinary Board that the following player(s) was (were) cautioned – Samuel Onyango, Jacques Tuyisenge, Joash Onyango, Haron Shakava, Mustafa Francis and Humphrey Mieno.

“Therefore you are kindly requested to note that both Gor Mahia players no. 12 and no. 18 are provisionally suspended from taking part in CAF inter-clubs matches until the submission of the case to CAF Disciplinary board in its next meeting (January 13)."

Shakava and Onyango will likely be replaced by Charles Momanyi, Pascal Ogweno and Joachim Oluoch in the positions in the battle with New Star.

Despite the set back,Gor has been buoyed by the presence of former  Auxerre FC striker and Harambee Stars captain, Dennis Oliech, who has signed for the club.

Oliech, who  has made a return to football after a two-year hiatus, scored his first goal for the team in a league match against Posta Rangers  FC at Kasarani on Wednesday.

Head coach, Hassan Oktay, is likely to rely on Oliech  upfront to outfox the opponents who are expected in the country on Friday.

New Star tactician, Gerald Mbimi,  has indicated he would depend on his forward, Ngongang Figo,to finish Gor in Nairobi.

Even though they are a young side,Mbimi has underlined they are not afraid of Gor who are 17-time Kenya’s domestic league champions, iced with 1987 Mandela Cup (Cup Winners Cup) victory.

Gor were eliminated from the 2018/ 2019 CAF Champions League contest by Lobi Stars who won on away goal advantage after a 3-3 aggregate.

Aggregate winner

The loss relegated K’Ogalo to the Confederation Cup where they are now poised to tackle New Stars who edged out Libyan outfit Al Ahli Tripoli 1-1 on aggregate after a 0-0 draw in Limbe in their Confederation preliminary round to reach the current stage.

Aggregate winner between Gor and New Star will proceed for the Confederation group stage.

Last year, Gor eliminated former South Africa league winners, SuperSport United FC in the Confed Cup play-off to punch their ticket to the group stages where they were pooled alongside USM Alger (Algeria), Rayon Sport (Rwanda) and neighboring titans, Yanga SC of Tanzania.

Faced with a backbreaking fixture pile-up, their defence of the SportPesa Cup, involvement in the CECAFA Club Championship, landmark friendly against English side, Hull City FC and Shield commitments, Gor were leading Group D standings ahead of the final round of fixtures where they faced a daunting trip to Algiers to play USMA.

A 1-2 defeat on August 29 brought K’Ogalo’s (eight) brave run in the competition to an end, with Rayon (nine) edging them out to join the Algerians (11) in the quarterfinal draw as Yanga (four) propped Group D.