Troubled Gor Mahia dumped out of Caf Confed Cup

Gor Mahia's Alpha Onyango (right) vies for the ball with Napa Stars' Dickson Chapa during their Caf Confederation Cup play-off first leg match at Nyayo Stadium on February 14, 2021.

Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Gor seemed to be heading for victory before Emmanuel Mayuka's 94th penalty gave the hosts the advantage and they held on to clinch a place in the group stages.

Gor Mahia on Sunday missed the chance to qualify for the Caf Confederation Cup group stages after a 2-2 draw away to Zambia's Napsa Stars saw them knocked out 3-2 on aggregate.

Gor seemed to be heading for victory before Emmanuel Mayuka's 94th minute penalty gave the hosts the advantage in the second leg play-off and they held on to clinch a place in the group stages.

Mayuka was returning to the team after missing the first leg where Gor had lost 1-0 at the Nyayo National Stadium a week ago.

Samuel Onyango put Gor Mahia ahead in the 17th minute, but midfielder Austin Banda replied a minute later to put the Zambians back into the game.

Winger Cliftone Miheso then produced a significant finish to put Gor ahead in the tough fixture attended by 200 fans due to the strict Covid-19 measures put in place by the Zambian government.

Caf had initially allowed Napsa Stars to have 4,500 fans to cheer the home side.

Travelling challenges marred K’Ogalo’s journey and they arrived in Zambia less than two hours to the game.

Gor left Nairobi almost at noon after finally raising funds to make the trip and arrived in Zambia minutes past 2pm making their way straight to the Heroes National Stadium where their opponents had already started training in anticipation of the tie.

Gor have now failed to repeat the same feat they achieved in 2019 when they qualified for the group stage of the same competiton after beating New Star of Cameroon 2-1 on aggregate.

K’Ogalo finished as runners up behind Egyptian giants Zamalek in a group which consisted of Angola's Petro de Atletico and Na Hussein Dey of Algeria.

K’Ogalo were later eliminated by RS Berkane 7-1 on aggregate in the quarter final stage.

Gor Mahia coach Carlos Manuel Vaz Pinto said they were unfairly dumped out of the competiton.

“I want to congratulate my players, but another team beat us today, not Napsa. We had a chance to score in the last minute of the normal time, but one Napsa player kicked my players yet he was not booked. We also had a clear chance to score but it was flagged for offside.

“We were better in the game despite coming a few hours to the match. I can’t agree with the idea of giving out the penalty at the last minute. They added four minutes and after this they gave out a penalty.  

"My players were frustrated at the decision, but I thank them for holding their peace and displaying professional behaviour,” said Vaz Pinto.

‘”I hear there were a lot of things before this game. It is not fair when you give your best then another team beats us this way,” he added.

His Napsa Stars counterpart, Mohammed Fathi hailed his players for the spirited fight, defending the decision to give out the penalty.

“It is not easy to make history as my players lack experience in the continental scene where we meet big teams. We thank the government for the motivation and it was a job well done,” said Fathi.