Sofapaka, AFC Leopards secure first wins of the season

It is barely a month since the 2019/2020 Kenyan Premier League (KPL) kicked-off and it would be illogical to write off teams which made a false start in the season.

This is more so after Sofapaka and AFC Leopards, who were among the teams which had their egos bruised, bounced back with their first wins last weekend.

Suffice to say, Sofapaka and Leopards did cement their earlier declaration that they are not in the top-tier action to make numbers, but rather to challenge for the top honours.

Amongst the two, it was Sofapaka who took the lion’s share of success after pulling out the highest winning margin in their 4-0 annihilation of Chemelil Sugar at Narok Stadium, a result that left the team’s Portuguese coach bubbling with confidence.

“It feels good to come out of the quagmire and finally chalk up a huge win, Obviously, this is a manifestation that the players are intent on improving.

As I said before when I landed this job, my goal was to transform Sofapaka as one of the best clubs in Africa,” said Sofapaka head coach Divaldo Alves.

He added: “Obviously, it (KPL) is not easy but the idea here is to treat each of our remaining matches like a final and see what happens after that.

The bottom line is that there is drastic improvement in the team’s playing unit which can make any coach happy.”

In contrast, Leopards squeezed a 1-0 win over Wazito at Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega though the result was good enough to lift the spirits of the players who endured a painful 1-0 defeat by Kakamega Homeboyz in their opening match followed by yet another uninspiring barren draw with Kariobangi Sharks in their second fixture.

However, looking back at the season with hindsight, Homeboyz have the bragging rights of a team yet to lose any match, as they boast of seven points from three matches after convincingly beating Kariobangi Sharks 3-0 at the weekend.

Interestingly, the weekend also served some teams to inflict revenge on their opponents who vanquished them in the 2018 season.

Bandari, who lost 2-0 to Sony Sugar in Awendo during the second leg of the season, were left purring ahead of their CAF Cup return match against US Guerdane in Tunisia this weekend when they edged out the sugar belt side 1-0 on their own turf.

Gor also beat KCB 2-1, a big motivation going into the reverse Africa Champions League fixture against USM Alger in Nairobi on Sunday.