Gor face Yanga in Kagame Cup opener

Ambitious Yanga FC go head to head with inform Gor Mahia in their opening Group A fixture on Saturday at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
The match will be preceded by a clash pitting APR of Rwanda and Al Shandy of Sudan from 2pm (EAT) with both games live on your world of champions.
The KPL leaders will be looking to carry their run of form and improve on their disappointing group stage exit last year.
Gor coach Frank Nuttall says their aim is to replicate their impressive local form at the regional tourney.
“There is going to be high competition in that tournament because all the teams that are coming in are national champions in their respective countries. It is a good thing that we are leaving the country with an unbeaten league record, and it will be lovely to have the same results in Cecafa.”
“We, however, have to be realistic and I think making it out of the group stages alive will be a great way to start because, then, it will give us room to build up and possibly challenge for top honours. But we need to get out of the group and that is our goal,” he said.
In last year’s edition held in Kigali, Rwanda, the 14-time Kenyan champions were ignominiously bundled out of the competition at the group stages without winning a single match. In fact, the club lost two matches and drew two.
K’Ogalo are currently riding high in the Kenyan Premier League, comfortably perched at the top of the table unbeaten with 46 points from 18 matches.
The team’s trip to Dar looked uncertain over lack of funds. However, the club collected Sh2.5 million at a funds drive on Tuesday evening. Additionally, The Ministry of Sports has provided 30 air tickets.
Gor Mahia are in Group A alongside Tanzanian football power houses Yanga, Djibouti Telecom, KMKM of Zanzibar and Sudan outfit Al Khartoum where the club’s former midfielder Anthony Akumu currently plies his trade.
Yanga coached by Dutch born Hans Van Pluijm won the cup five time in 1975,1993.1999 ,2011 and 2012. They will be in upbeat mood to prove they are the Tanzania Mainland League champions by going all the way to the finals.
Yanga who are camping at Kurasini Police Institute in Dar will bank on captain Nadir “Cannavaro”Haroub and Rwanda’s Haruna Niyonzima.
Thirteen teams are expected to feature in the championship whose defending champion El Merreikh of Sudan will be a no show due to Caf Champions League engagements in the group stages.
Two teams from Sudan will take part in the tourney, one as the country’s representative and the other as holder representative.
Yanga’s Confederation Cup journey may have been shattered painfully but they can hold their heads high for ‘making’ their fans proud.
Their journey in the Caf Confederations Cup ended in disappointment after they lost 2-0 to tactically-superior Etoile du Sahel (2-1 on aggregate) in the second leg match in Tunis on Saturday.
After what has been a memorable campaign in this tournament, the Jangwani Street team came so close to making the lucrative group stages where they would have been assured of millions of shillings in earnings.
The organizers have earmarked training venues for all teams that will feature in the two-week long tourney with the exception of hosts Young Africans and Azam FC.