KPL Round 13 Review

16 May
Agrochemicals v Gor Mahia
Home side Agrochemicals currently lie second from bottom on the KPL log and will be hard pressed to contain a resurgent Gor side whose three wins on the trot have pushed them up to eighth on the KPL log. Gor can be unpredictable and any result is expected from this game.


Sony Sugar v Sofapaka
The 2006 champions host one of the KPL's new boys. Sony have failed to reproduce the form that saw them dominate the 2006 KPL and give Tusker and Mathare a run for their money in the subsequent championships.
Their once impregnable Fortress Awendo has been breached this year and second placed Sofapaka, a team with title ambitions will be out to claim the three points that could be of significance at the end of round 13.Sofapaka have not been good travellers and could their away form haunt them again?

Nairobi City Stars v Chemelil Sugar
After a slow start, the team from "Lavington East" have worked their way into fourth on the KPL charts. They play twelfth placed Chemelil at the Hope Center in a match that they should win. Chemelil are no pushovers and are very capable of pulling off a draw or a surprise win.

Ulinzi Stars v Western Stima
Sixth placed Ulinzi face fifth placed Western Stima who are having a great season, winning key matches away and making use of their Bukhungu home ground advantage.The two solid sides face off in what should be a great tie.Any result is expected.


KCB v Sher Karuturi
Eleventh placed KCB host seventh placed Sher in what should be a drab match. Drab! Because these two sides just knock the ball around for ninety minutes and seem content with whatever result they get, as long as they avoid relegation.Not a sight for the eyes but it has to be played.

17 May

Red Berets v Mathare United
Red Berets are sitting close to the relegation,lying thirteenth after twelve matches. They face a Mathare United side who hardly seem like the reigning KPL champions.Lying tenth, Mathare are wounded and would relish any opportunity to assert themselves as defending league champs. The Red Berets are equally fighting for premiership survival. These ingredients make for an interesting clash.


Tusker v Bandari
2007 champions and current league leaders Tusker FC have quietly worked their way to the top of the league, winning crucial games home and away. They will seek to extend their rich vein of form and subsequently their league leadership by beating the visitors from Mombasa who are currently fourteenth in the league, sitting one place above the relegation slots. Bandari players have been told to shape up or ship out by their coach , former Tusker and Kenya midfield great,Douglas Mutua. Let us see how this goes.

Thika United v AFC Leopards
Thika United's season is going great,sitting in third place and with one of the meanest defences in the KPL. They play host to the league's bottom side AFC Leopards. This should be an entertaining match as both sides play great soccer, particularly in midfield. However, as AFC Leopards have learnt, beautiful soccer doesn't always win you matches.

Enjoy the KPL this weekend!

Tussle not good for Stars preparations

Storm in a team cup? Stars coach Antoine Hey at Kasarani. Photo courtesy of The Standard

By Mike Kwambo
The ongoing tussle between Harambee Stars Head Coach Antoine Hey and several KPL clubs over the remittance of "commitment letters" is not good for the team's preparations ahead of the 2010 World Cup/Africa Cup qualifier against Nigeria in Abuja.

Herr Hey may have good intentions but the clubs have every right to hold on to their players until the FIFA stipulated release date approaches and it would be in order for the good man to acknowledge the clubs good faith in releasing them three weeks ahead of this date.

The players are employees of their various clubs and it is sad that they are at the center of an unnecessary storm. .The national team does not pay their rent.Playing for the national team is not necessarily a right, it is a privilege and for Herr Hey's information, privileges can be turned down.

Threatening to drop the players only puts the team under undue pressure ,more so after that heartbreaking home loss to Tunisia. There is a need for consistency and continuity in the team and it will not be achieved by the constant bickering shuffling of players overs matters as mundane as commitment letters. There needs to be a harmonious relationship between the clubs and the national side, consensus is the way to go.

Hey should focus on the task at hand, a good result over Nigeria and in subsequent matches. Commitment letters never won any matches.

Related News
Oliech blasts coach over demands
Big revolt as clubs refuse to sign Hey's letter


More News
Kenya to play Malawi in Nairobi
Crying shame of our football referees
KFF and FKL differ over brewers deal with Stars
Hey: Return letters or lose place in team
Hey: Sign up or be dropped
AC Milan chasing Mariga's signature

A million bob each for 2010 World Cup status
Mathare feeling the heat
Nairobi Football Academy land Italy invite
Tusker lead as Sofapaka stay close

Munro resigns as KPL chairman
Wanga set to move to Armenia

Ambani keen to prove point

Ambani in action for Yanga

Courtesy of The Standard
Stars striker Boniface Ambani wants to prove a point with the national team when they face Nigeria’s Super Eagles in a crucial Group Two qualifier on June 7.

The lanky goal poacher, who finished the Tanzanian league as the top scorer with 24 goals in his first season with league champions Yanga, said he wanted to prove that notching the goals for the Tanzanian giants was no fluke.

"People have always had a notion that the standards of the Tanzanian league is low compared to others and may want to question my golden boot award, but I would like to tell any critics to prepare for my goals.

The Tanzanian league is competitive and I personally feel it is well way ahead of the Kenyan League because I have played in both," said Ambani .

The camp was full house with the arrival of the three Yanga players, Ambani, Boniface Mwalala and Mike Baraza who missed last week’s training because they had not been released by their club.

Meanwhile, Ambani has said he does not want to return to his Tanzanian club next season but instead wants join China’s Super League side Green Town Zhejang FC.

He said the Chinese club had showed a lot of interest in him after he had successful trials in February, but Yanga refused to release him with the Africa Champions League in focus, where they eventually crashed to champions Al Ahly of Egypt.

More News
KFF and FKL differ over brewers deal with Stars
Hey: Return letters or lose place in team
Hey: Sign up or be dropped
AC Milan chasing Mariga's signature

A million bob each for 2010 World Cup status
Mathare feeling the heat
Nairobi Football Academy land Italy invite
Tusker lead as Sofapaka stay close

Munro resigns as KPL chairman
Wanga set to move to Armenia

Report: Milan Prepare Summer Swoop For Parma's McDonald Mariga

The Rossoneri are still monitoring the powerful Kenyan midfielder, but face competition from Valencia...

Serie B, Empoli-Parma: Mariga - Parma (Foto Grazia Neri)

Milan have been associated with Parma midfield man McDonald Mariga in recent months, and ilcalciomercato.it today reports that the Lombardy powerhouse are ready to table a sizeable bid to lure him to San Siro this summer.

Parma have allegedly slapped an €8 million price tag on the 22-year-old, who has been capped 25 times by his country, but a host of other European sides are also on his trail, with Spanish outfit Valencia the most interested party.

Mariga first joined Parma on loan from Swedish club Helsingborg in 2007, but the Ducali made the move permanent last summer and the midfielder put pen to paper on a four-year contract to stay at the Stadio Tardini until 2012.

Mariga has quickly established himself as a first team regular in the Emilia Romagna-based outfit and has netted three goals so far this term.

Parma look set for a swift return to the top flight as they are second in Serie B, with just five games left until the end of the season.

Vince Masiello, Goal.com

More News

A million bob each for 2010 World Cup status
Mathare feeling the heat
Nairobi Football Academy land Italy invite
Tusker lead as Sofapaka stay close

Munro resigns as KPL chairman
Wanga set to move to Armenia

A million each for 2010 world cup status

Courtesy of Sammy Kitula/Nation Media Group

Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) holds a dummy cheque of Kshs 13 million as East Africa Breweries Limited Group Managing Director Gerrard Mahinda signs it. Harambee Stars players stand in the background to witness the deal signed at Moi Sports Center Kasarani. Photo/CHRIS OMOLLO/NATION MEDIA GROUP

Each of the 18 Harambee Stars players will receive Sh1 million should the national team qualify for next year’s World Cup, courtesy of East African Breweries.

EABL group managing director Gerald Mahinda also promised each player Sh100,000 as a bonus for every victory in the team’s five remaining qualifying matches.

“For EABL and Tusker, this initiative is very much in line with our policy to support sports, something we have consistently done for many decades,” Mahinda said.

Unveiling the reward scheme on Monday at Kasarani, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said it would go a long way in ensuring the Stars make it to South Africa.

“This is great motivation for the players and I believe it is a highway to the World Cup,” Raila observed.

The Premier urged the team to put behind them their 2-1 loss to Tunisia and focus on the remaining matches, saying the group is still wide open.

“Those saying we are out of the World Cup contention are grossly mistaken; we can still make it there. All we need to do is win all of our remaining matches,” he said.

Discipline paramount

Raila added that even Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

The PM was categorical that clubs should have respect for the national team, asking them to be releasing called-up players on time.

“Discipline is paramount, and clubs must ensure that they offer support to the national team at all times. These squabbles must end for our football to go forward,” he said.

Harambee Stars play Nigeria in Abuja on June 7th before hosting Mozambique on June 20th.

“We are ready for the challenge and we have the ability just like any other team,” said Stars stand-in captain Boniface Ambani.

Click on the links below for more news;

Mathare feeling the heat
Nairobi Football Academy land Italy invite
Tusker lead as Sofapaka stay close

Munro resigns as KPL chairman
Wanga set to move to Armenia

Tusker remain atop as Sofapaka stay close in KPL

Tusker continued to lead the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) after the twelfth round of matches this past weekend courtesy of a 1-0 away win over Western Stima at Kakamega’s Bukhungu Stadium on Saturday. Jerry Santos 66th minute strike was enough to give the 2007 KPL winners three points as they lead the league on 24 points.

Saturday’s other fixtures saw bottom side AFC Leopards rally from a goal down at half time to holding visiting Ulinzi Stars 1-1 at the Coca Cola National Stadium. Evans Amuoka put the soldiers ahead on 21 minutes before Collins Kisuya salvaged a point for “Ingwe” on 52 minutes, scoring his free kick from a tight angle.Mulinge “Munandi” Ndeto of Ulinzi was sent off on 89 minutes for elbowing an AFC Leopards player.

Jimmy Bagaye’s brace helped Nairobi City Stars overcome KCB 2-1 at the Hope Center in Lavington East (Kawangware). Daniel Waweru scored the banker’s lone goal.

KCB's Asman Ngaywa (R) takes on Nairobi City Stars midfielder Joshua Westmann during league match at Hope Centre. Photo /DENNIS OKEYO /NATION MEDIA GROUP

Red Berets and Sher Karuturi played to a 1-1 draw at the Oserian Stadium in Naivasha. Edwin Otieno’s blockbuster put the policemen ahead on 41 minutes but Joe Asuza’s own goal on 72 minutes earned Sher a point.

Bandari and AgroChemicals drew 2-2 at the City of Mombasa Stadium . Former Sony striker Victor Ali put the ports men ahead on 38 minutes while Alemba Humphrey leveled for Agro on 65 minutes. Dida Ochieng restored Bandari’s lead on 70 minutes but Hussein Puzzo scored on 85 minutes to ensure the match ended in a draw.

Chemelil and Thika United played to a 0-0 draw in Chemelil.

In Sunday’s early kick off, newcomers Sofapaka kept up with leaders Tusker when they beat reigning champions Mathare United 1-0 at the Coca Cola National Stadium. Congolese teenage Patrick “Petit” Kagogo scored the match winner on 41 minutes when he chested down Evans Wandera’s cross before firing past Martin Musalia in the United goal from the edge of the penalty area. Sofapaka played the match with ten men after Mike Kamadi was sent off on 32 minutes when he hacked down United’s Onami John.

Gor Mahia won their third match on the trot; running 2-1 winners over Sony Sugar in the late kick off at the Coca Cola. Teenager Duncan “Macheda” Owiti and George Odhiambo were “K’Ogalo” scorers on the day. Moses Arita scored Sony's consolation goal.

In other news;

Munro resigns as KPL chairman

Alan Wanga set to move to Armenia