Champions prepare for Super Cup action

AFC Leopards and Sofapaka lock horns at Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday in the annual curtain raiser to the new season, the Super Cup. There have been plenty of changes since the end of last term when Sofapaka lifted their maiden Kenyan Premier League (KPL) title and Leopards triumphed in the Football Kenya Limited (FKL) Cup final.

Tested new team

A typically busy programme has seen Chris Makokha come in to replace Nick Yakhama as Leopards’ head coach, while Sofapaka is happy to have tested their new team when they lost in the finals of the annual Tusker Challenge Cup to Yanga in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Both sides will still be confident of adding more silverware to their ever expanding trophy cabinets, and the Super Cup also provides the opportunity to gain a slight psychological edge at the start of a nine-month marathon.

One of the strongest

Robert Matano, Sofapaka’s head coach, has lost Hasim Mkwana and Collins Kisuya but the champions’ squad remains one of the strongest going into the upcoming league. Matano has added a number of reinforcements, including the Mathare United quartet of Edgar “Fighter” Ochieng’, Andrew Oyombe, Kevin Ochieng’ and John Onami.

Fighter and Ochieng’ have both caught the coach’s eye in a positive pre-season campaign for Sofapaka and could feature at Nyayo.

Several options

Matano however has several other options in midfield and defence such as Humphrey Mieno, Thomas Wanyama and their Mtibwa Sugar import, Idrisa Said Rajab. But Makokha has refused to let all this work to his disadvantage. He has instead declared his team’s readiness to take on the visibly strong Sofapaka side.

The one-time Leopards’ assistant coach is hoping to start the season on a high and possibly pocket the Sh500,000 prize money as the ultimate winner. “Games are getting tougher, stronger, harder and fiercer,” said the Leopards’ tactician. “But we are ready for any eventuality and we are going to do our best to overrun them. I wish we could win.”

But the odds seem to be against the former football powerhouse as they will be missing five of their former first team players – including their goalkeeper, Victor Omondi, and marksman Dennis Mukaisi.

Dominant force

Leopards will have to deal with Hugo Nzau, the former Sony Sugar player, as well as last season’s player of the year, John Baraza, or even Bob Mugalia, who finished last season with seven goals.

The other dominant force of Kenyan football last season, Sofapaka, also has a lot of questions surrounding them going into the new season. Sunday’s game should give an insight into what sort of tactics they will employ this time round, especially after acquiring 13 new players.