This weekend’s Kenya Premier League curtain raiser promises to be a football treat for any fan. The teams in play are pure entertainers who will wow the opposing fan and more so the neutral. Gor Mahia are the reigning Kenya Premier League Champions and will come up against this season’s pretenders to their throne, Kariobangi Sharks.
Kariobangi Sharks’ rise to the helm of Kenyan Football has been nothing short of remarkable, a feat underlined by Tuesday’s emphatic 6-1 victory over Arta in the CAF Confederations Cup qualifiers. William Muluhya’s Boys are not only raising eyebrows Nationally, that performance and result must their peers on the Continental level taking note.
Sharks will however come up against a Gor Team that will be looking to cement it’s position as the Country’s best Football club. This will be a K’Ogallo team looking to prove that the loss of the excellent former manager Dylan Kerr has done nothing to lower the standards, though many suspect it has.
On the pitch, the football on display when these two meet rarely disappoints. Th fixture produced a total of six goals over both league meetings last season thought Muluhya’s worry, five were on his team’s receiving end. A 3-0 Gor Mahia win in August was preceded by a 2-1 away win back in February. K’Ogallo have not lost to Sharks in five competitive matches, a record the Sportpesa Shield winners will look to end in Machakos on Sunday.
Kariobangi Sharks have really impressed in their off season buys and alongside Bandari FC seem like this season’s pretenders to Gor Mahia’s throne. The manner with ease in which they dismantled their opponents in the Confederation Cup showed that they are a team that might do wonders this season.
Gor Mahia meanwhile are in the middle of a transition period having lost their manager and seemingly about to lose their creative hub in Francis Kahata.
Gor Mahia almost always beat Sharks and their fans will expect nothing less, but with Kariobangi Sharks improved quality wise and off the back of a morale boosting win, Sunday’s affair promises to be a closely contested one and might ring a few surprises.
For the Kenyan Football fan though, Let the Games Begin!!