Bandari close to being the complete championship side
What you need to know:
- The team has literally remained the same save for shot stopper Farouk Shikalo who jumped ship to Young Africans of Tanzania meaning the team’s chemistry continues to build and mature like the proverbial wine.
- With the support the team received from their sponsors KPA last season and now the experience at the international stage, the sky indeed should be the limit.
The League is here with us again, another gruelling round of matches across the entire nation for our beloved dockers.
Last season was exceptional, a second placed finish on the log and a Sportspesa Shield title was no mean achievement.
The brilliant exploits of last season cannot be an excuse for the dockers to rest on their laurels.
In fact, a more hazardous journey has just begun in earnest.
The first game on the continent (Caf Confederation Cup) indeed proved that our astute dockers can hold their own against regional powers.
Sudan’s Al Ahly Shandy was a potent opposition coming from a very competitive league, and holding them in a gritty draw in Nairobi and following it up with another draw in a hostile environment in Shandy, some 200km to the north of the country’s capital city Khartoum, indeed proved that Bandari has come off age.
Without a doubt they are ready to take on some of the very best on the continent.
However the going will get tough. Our next opponents in the name of Tunisian outfit US Ben Guerdane will be no push overs bearing in mind that Bandari have been finding it hard to hit the back of the net.
A case in point is how Bandari struggled to score goals and even failed to have a single shot on target for the first time in a fixture when they battled Al Shendy to a barren draw in the first leg at Moi International Sports complex, Kasarani in Nairobi.
That came barely a month after Bandari bowed out of the Cecafa Kagame Cup on their debut in Rwanda without a win after drawing all their three group B matches.
The battled to a 1-1 draw against Kampala Capital City of Uganda, drew 2-2 with CA (1-1), Mukura Victory of Rwanda before settling for a scoreless tie with Tanzanian side Azam. The blunt striking force is food for thought for the technical bench as it extended to the opening weekend in the Kenyan Premier League.
Bandari fought out a barren draw with Mathare United on Saturday.
We need the likes of Yema Mwana, Abdalla Hassan, Wycliff Ochomo and William Wardi to put on their magical boots, and get us those goals we the supporters have been starved of.
Nevertheless, the league is a process and not an event, we pray and hope that Bernard Mwalala and his charges find a way of striking a balance so that our continental exploits do not hurt our domestic form.
The team has literally remained the same save for shot stopper Farouk Shikalo who jumped ship to Young Africans of Tanzania meaning the team’s chemistry continues to build and mature like the proverbial wine.
With the support the team received from their sponsors KPA last season and now the experience at the international stage, the sky indeed should be the limit.
