Pressure, what pressure? Defiant Kimanzi confident of Tusker revival

Ten-time Kenyan Premier League champions Tusker face a make-or-break tie Friday evening when they confront a tricky Nairobi City Stars side in a league encounter at the Nyayo Stadium.

The Francis Kimanzi-led brewers, who trail league leaders and defending champions Gor Mahia by 19 points, must beat City Stars to maintain their faint hopes of clinching the title for the 11th time.

A loss for Tusker will lock them out of the title race with six games to the end of the season.

Pundits are in agreement that Tusker, who last won the KPL title in 2012, have already lost out on their preseason ambitions of reclaiming the title but still have a marginal mathematical claim on the race in today’s match.

INCONSISTENT RESULTS

The brewers, who are fourth on the log, have blown hot and cold this season and are currently on a three-match winless streak.

Kimanzi continues to bemoan the team’s sloppy beginning to the season, but the bullish character that he is refuses to accept that there is pressure mounting on his team to turn their stable financial backing into solid results in the league.

“We had a very poor beginning to this season, and we have not been moving at the right speed, there is no doubt about that. But when you start to talk about pressure, I get lost because we are fourth with seven matches left to improve,” said Kimanzi.

“Our ambition of winning the title this year still stands and until it is mathematically impossible for us to achieve that, we shall consider ourselves title challengers,” he added.

WERE OUT

Current league top scorer Jesse Were will miss this tie yet again as he is attending trials with South African side Bidvest Wits, and Kimanzi looks set to retain the experienced Clifford Alwanga in his place.

Although they seat second from the bottom on the log, City Stars have improved tremendously in the second leg where they have picked eight of their 17 points.

City Stars lost 3-1 to Gor Mahia in their last league match while Tusker tied 1-1 with KCB.

At the same venue, Mathare United will be seeking redemption after a rough patch when they come up against Bandari FC in a floodlit match from 7pm.

Mathare’s 3-1 loss to Ushuru in their last league action prompted coach Stanley Okumbi to threaten to resign from the Slum Boys. But club chairman Bob Munro maintains that Okumbi is still the man for the job as the 2008 champions aim to bounce back to winning ways.

FIXTURES

Tusker v City Stars 5pm, Mathare United vs Bandari 7.15pm both at Nyayo Stadium.