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S. OchiengGor Mahia sweat on potential CAF ban
Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 22.02.21. | 12:37
Late penalty call from the ref that denied Kenyan champions entry into the group stages left Gor Mahia exaspereted.
Only one of the four added minutes had remained in theCAF Confederation Cup return leg tie between Napsa Stars and Gor Mahia at the Heroes National Stadium in Zambia. Then the unthinkable happened: Gor centre back Charles Momanyi slid in trying to intercept a through ball, only for his lunging legs to bring down Napsa’s Daniel Adoko in the area and for the referee to point to the penalty spot. A moment that quickly turned chaotic.
The entire Gor Mahia unit, led by captain Kenneth Muguna, took their protests and angered frustrations to Martin Mokete Lebalang, the centre referee in charge of the game who had awarded the spot-kick. For more than two minutes, the players tried to fight, to plead, to query, to do just about anything for the referee to change his mind but the appeals fell on deaf ears. Emmanuel Mayuka stepped up and converted the penalty to send Napsa Stars to the group stages of the confederations cup for the first time in their history.
Gor players clashed with the centre referee after the final whistle had been blown and it only took intervention from police officers to come to the rescue of the match officials, escorting them from a charged and hurt Gor Mahia players. It did not stop there, it is reported that the players proceeded to the changing rooms and caused massive damage to anything in their way.
After that game, reports have now emerged stating that the 19-time Kenyan champions are set to face a ban from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for assaulting the match referee and for destroying property at the stadium’s locker room.
Whether that happens only remains to be seen for now, as an official statement from CAF is yet to be released.
With that exit from the continental showpiece, the defending champions have to now quickly change their priorities and focus back on the Football Kenya Federation Premier League(FKFPL) where they are in action tomorrow against Posta Rangers. They currently lie in 9th place on 16 points, thirteen points adrift log leaders Tusker who have played three more games than them.
