Kenyan champions Gor Mahia remained winless in their pursuit of the 2024 Cecafa Kagame Cup following a 1-1 draw against ASAS Djibouti Telecom in a Group B fixture at Azam Complex Stadium on Saturday night.
Gor Mahia will now face the tall order of winning a fourth Cecafa Kagame Cup title as they come up against Al Hilal in their final group fixture tomorrow.
Having lost the opener 1-0 against guest team and Zambian champions Red Arrows, K’Ogalo went into the fixture seeking a win to stay on course to qualify for the semi-finals, but they could only manage a point against the resilient Djiboutian side. Gor Mahia, under new Brazilian coach Leonardo Martins Neiva, took the lead in the 40th minute through Levin Odhiambo.
However, ASAS leveled matters a minute later when Warsama Houssein Said struck home from close range. K’Ogalo started the game with intentions to score, and they should have taken the lead in the 12th minute when Chris Akena found himself in a oneon-one situation with ASAS goalkeeper Kwame Baah, but he failed to apply the finishing touch. Gor Mahia continued to raid ASAS and missed another glorious opportunity when Odhiambo’s cross from the right wing troubled the ASAS defense before Baah came to the rescue.
K’Ogalo’s Rooney Onyango became the first player to be booked in the 23rd minute after a clumsy challenge. The record Kenyan champi[1]ons finally took the lead with four minutes left before the half-time break, with Odhiambo finding space inside the ASAS danger zone to unleash a left-footed effort past Baah.
Despite that, K’Ogalo’s lead was short-lived as ASAS leveled matters from the restart, with Warsama Houssein capitalizing on a defensive lapse to tap home past goalkeeper Kevin Omondi. In the second half, Gor Mahia continued to search for the winner, but the Djiboutian side resorted to a defensive game plan, which eventually handed them a vital point.
The draw means Martins Neiva is still searching for his first win as a K’Ogalo coach. In another Group B fixture at the same venue, Al-Hilal Omdurman secured a 5-0 win against K’Ogalo’s conquerors Red Arrows to move top of the group with a maximum of six points. Adama Coulibaly put the Sudanese outfit ahead in the eighth minute before Mohamed Abdelthman Yousif scored the second in the 16th
