CAFCL: Ruthless Al Ahly extinguish Gor Mahia's slim hopes of group stages following heavy defeat in first leg
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Reading Time: 3min | Sun. 15.09.24. | 16:55
The Kenyan champions will have to do the unthinkable in Cairo if they are to eliminate the defending champions
If Gor Mahia's chances of making it to the group stages of the CAF Champions League held any weight heading into the weekend, then it would be fair to say that they are all dead, going by the events of their second preliminary round first leg clash against Al Ahly at the Nyayo National Stadium.
Coming in as the confident hosts, Gor Mahia suffered a huge setback under the Sunday sun, following a comprehensive 3-0 loss to the Egyptian giants.
In hindsight, perhaps it the inexperience of the K'Ogalo side that came up against them, as they fell to goals from Percy Tau and Ramy Rabia, making an already difficult task insurmountable.
The defeat leaves Leo Martin Neiva's side with a daunting task of resuscitating their slender hopes at the Cairo International Stadium in a week's time, when the two sides meet for the second leg.
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Erratic Gor forced to pay sour price
Gor Mahia will definitely look back at the opening quarter- hour of the contest, when their slight dominance and exuberance turned for the worse, and hugely down to their own undoing.
Without creating much on the opposite end, Boniface Omondi was caught lurking with the ball by Hussein Elshahat after 13 minutes, before the latter unleashed a tame ball that was parried by goalkeeper Kevin Omondi to the path of Ramy for the opener.
Moments later, a similar run of play from the Gor Mahia rearguard led to the second, as Kennedy Onyango mistimed a pass from his goalkeeper, to allow South African Tau time and space to tuck into an empty net.
Within a flash, the hosts were two-nil down, all panicky, and with Green Army silent.
The first signs of a K'Ogalo resurgence came after 24 minutes, when new signing Enock Morisson tested Mohamed Elshenawy for the first time, only for his shot to be repelled.
Austin Odhiambo then came close from range, as Gor Mahia came to life in the closing stages.
Neiva the decided to shift his personnel, as Kennedy Onyango and Philemon Otieno were hooked for Alpha Onyango and Paul Ochuoga.
The changes seemed to make an instant impact as Alpha set up Boniface Omondi for the first real chance, only for the latter's shot to go over the bar.
The second period wouldn't be any different for Gor, as they often found time and space to get around the Al Alhly defense, but just lacked to get something to go.
At the hour mark, Morisson lashed his effort against the crossbar, just as Al Ahly threatened for a third through Wessam Ali.
Any gains made in the period by Gor Mahia came to a sudden halt when Tau was once again clear for his second goal in the game.
Substitute Shariff Musa later on thought he had grabbed one for K'Ogalo, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside, perhaps capping off a disappointing day in office for those in green.
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