Friday 16 March 2012

AFC Leopards v/s Gor Mahia - KPL's Main Highlight this weekend

Kenya's Premier League's started in earnest and this weekend the biggest derby in the country's history unfolds on Sunday at 1500hours.
AFC Leopards v/s Gor Mahia in a past game - image courtesy of www.futaa.com

This season though, AFC Leopards are currently the fastest kids off the blocks, having won 4 out of their first 5 matches. They had some signings in the off-season which have seen them scalping every team in their wake.
Allan Wanga's been their starry-eyed player for the moment for AFC. He's scored  in all except one match including a delightful free-kick against Ulinzi FC in February which saw him voted by sports journalist as the Kandanda Player of the Month ( taking home trophy & 10,000 to boot). He has ably taken off the load of scoring which had been left to Mike Barasa for the better part of last season. Along with other new signings, the team seems to be gelling faster than the rest. The good tidings for Jan 'Wephukulu' Koops also seem to be pouring onto the team's fortunes as they did for the latter part of last season. Modest financial backing from sponsors as well as favourable ticket sales from match-days have seen the financials fortunes of the club stabilise in the short-term.
Gor Mahia on the other hand have not been able to secure good results which has resulted in the sacking of its entire technical bench. The team's currently placed 14th, two places from the bottom of the table standings. With the team being bundled out of continental championship and the 'colossal' expectations of its huge fan-base, the players will have pride to fight for in this fixture. Their off-season signings have taken long to cobble up a formidable team but if they have the patience, they will be rewarded in good time.
Last season's similar fixture saw Gor Mahia beat AFC by 3-1 only for the latter to reverse the results by 3-0 margin. As always the stakes are high for both teams { who's fans affectionately call each other shemeji - (cousins) thanks to the political alignments and geographical proximity of majority of the fans }.

For you the discerning Kenyan football fan, this is surely not to be missed and if in the unlikely event you can't make it to the Nyayo National Stadium, catch the action on SuperSport 9 East Africa !

Check out this blog which aggregates news about AFC Leopards team activities and games, pre-match and post-match analysis. As for Gor Mahia, this link might help too!

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