Gor Mahia line up before a past match. Photo courtesy
2023-24 FKF Premier League champions Gor Mahia will have nothing to play for but pride as they meet Al Hilal Omdurman of Sudan in their final Group B game this evening at the 2024 CECAFA Club Championship in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Gor Mahia is already eliminated having failed to earn enough points to guarantee its passage to the seminals as either one of the three group winners or the best second-placed team.
K'Ogalo started the tournament with a 1-0 loss against Zambia's Red Arrows.
Gor Mahia then went on to draw 1-1 in their second Group game with the group's perceived minnows, Djibouti. Gor Mahia drew the match after throwing away a 1-0 lead when Warsama Said scored in the 41st minute to cancel out debutant Levin Odhiambo's 39th-minute opener.
The result left Gor Mahia third in Group B with one point from two games and and -1 goal difference.
Al Hilal lead the group with six points and +7 goal difference having won 2-0 against Djibouti Telecom in their first game and 5-0 against Red Arrows on Matchday Two.
Red Arrows are second with three points and -4 goal difference.
Djibouti Telecom are bottom with one point and -2 goal difference.
The 2024 CECAFA Club Championship attract 12 teams which were split into three groups of four teams.
The first two teams in each group qualify for the semifinals automatically where they will be joined by the best-ranked second-place team.
Currently, Al Wadi of Sudan and APR Rwanda have qualified for the semifinals having won Group A and Group C respectively.
SC Villa of Uganda, with five points in Group C are currently the best-ranked second place team. They will be following today's Group B final games with great interest.
With Al Hilal already guaranteed a place in the semifinal either as Group B winner or the best-ranked second-place team, SC Villa will be hoping that the Sudanese club end the day as the top team in Group B and Red Arrows fail to win against Djibouti Telecom.
Victory over Djibouti Telecom will see Red Arrows accumulate six points which will be enough to see them leapfrog SC Villa into first place in the rankings of second-placed teams.
Anything less of a victory will, therefore, see Red Arrows eliminated from the tournament.
Despite it being a dead rubber match, Gor Mahia will be desperate to win against Al Hilal Omdurman and leave the tournament on a high.
Their results so far have seen Gor Mahia fans call into question the competence and qualifications of the club's new Brazilian coach, Leonardo Martins Neiva.
Neiva is yet to win a match since taking over on July 1 from Johnathan McKinstry, the club's former Northern Irish coach who departed in May to take charge of the Gambian national football team.
The two final Group B games, Al Hilal Omdurdan versus Gor Mahia and Djibouti Telecom against Red Arrows, will be played simultaneously as both matches will kick-off at 4 pm. Gor Mahia's match will be played at Azam Complex in Chamazi while the other game will take place at KMC Stadium in Dar es Salaam's Kinondoni area.
Meanwhile, Somalia's representative to the competition, Dekedaha, bowed out with a 2-1 win over Zanzibar's JKU on Monday. Dekedaha started the competition with a 1-0 loss to Coastal Union of Tanzania before falling 2-1 to Al Wadi of Sudan.
Dekedaha showed more determination their final Group A game, coming from behind to defeat JKU 2-1. Hamis Mchano had given the Zanzibaris the lead in the 4th minute but the Somali club returned stronger after the break and struck twice through Joshua Abdalie and Adepoji Oluwasen in the 60th and 71st minute.
