CAF Champions League: Gor Mahia's Martins Neiva wary of Al Ahly after landing El Merriekh

The draw for the inter-club competition was held at the CAF headquarters in Cairo on Thursday, July 11th, with K’Ogalo being pitted against the South Sudanese outfit in the preliminary stage. However, should K’Ogalo cruise past El Merriekh, they will face title holders and Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the second round of the lucrative competition.

Gor Mahia will face El Merriekh in the first leg away in South Sudan on August 16th, before returning home for the return leg on August 23rd.

K’Ogalo, who won a record 21st title in the 2023/24 campaign, will return to the Champions League after they received clearance from FKF. Last season, despite winning the title, Gor Mahia could not participate in the tournament after they were barred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for their failure to meet part of the club licensing requirements.

47 African countries will compete for honours in Africa’s premier club competition with Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Tanzania, DR Congo, Angola, Sudan, Libya, Cote d'Ivoire, and Nigeria providing two representatives each.

Al Ahly is a giant of African football

Gor Mahia’s Brazilian coach Martin Neiva believes his side will have to be ready to face the Northern African giants if they get past El Merreikh.

“I got to know about the draw and we are going to face El Merriekh of South Sudan and then later (if we qualify), I hope we can cross over, and then we are going to face Al Ahly of Egypt, that is a giant of African football and of course, they are the favourites,” Martins Neiva told Flashscore.

Al Ahly have a record of 43 national league titles, 38 national cup titles, and 14 national Super Cup titles, making them the most decorated club in Egypt. In addition, Al Ahly have never been relegated to the Egyptian Second Division.

In international competitions, the club have won a record twelve Champions League titles, a Confederation Cup, a record Seven CAF Super Cups, a record four African Cup Winners’ Cups, an Afro-Asian Club Championship, an Arab Club Champions Cup, an Arab Cup Winners’ Cup, a record two Arab Super Cups, and won a bronze medal in the 2006, 2020, 2021 and 2023 Club World Cup.

Martins Neiva, whose first stint in Africa took him to South Africa where he handled Platinum Stars and won the Nelson Mandela Cup in 2009, and later, to Tanzania, where he achieved the remarkable achievement of the National League of Tanzania and the Super Cup in 2014/2015 with Young African (Yanga SC), reiterated for K’Ogalo to leave a mark in the competition they must expose their young squad to the realities of playing at the biggest stage.

“But you know the key point about Gor Mahia is we are around two years without playing in the CAF competitions, Champions League, or even Confederation Cup, that is why we need to get a lot of exposure for the players, our players especially the youngest squad that we have, they better learn more on playing in the continent,” said Martins Neiva.

Martins Neiva, who is a Brazilian Pro License football coach and former Brazilian footballer, however, said he would start thinking about Al Ahly after they cross over against El Merriekh and further promised to watch them play in the ongoing Council of East and Central African Football Association (CECAFA) Kagame Cup in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

“I will go watch their (El Merriekh) game to see how they play, we should start preparing ourselves for the Champions League challenge now, and plan accordingly because in the first game, we will be away, and then we play at home, I hope we cross over against them, and then plan for the tough assignment against Al Ahly.”

Gor Mahia have previously endured a difficult run in the Champions League always failing to get to the group stages and beyond. Given the arrangements in the past, they could scale down to the playoffs in the Confederation Cup at least from where they have proceeded to qualify for the group stages.

The first of such qualifications was in 2018 when they beat SuperSport United on a 3-2 aggregate win followed again in 2019 where they dispatched New Stars United of Cameroon 2-1 on aggregate.

In the 2019 sojourn, K’Ogalo had a sterling performance in the group stages and qualified for the quarter-finals losing to RS Berkane of Morocco. Their last attempt in the 2021/22 season fell at the return leg against Napsa Stars when a last-second penalty awarded to the Zambian outfit saw the team bow out before they missed out in the subsequent season.

Martin Neiva loses the first Gor Mahia fixture

The Brazilian started his reign at Gor Mahia on a losing note after the Kenyan champions went down 1-0 against Red Arrows of Zambia in their Group B opener of the CECAFA Kagame Cup.

The Kenyan champions, who are seeking a fourth Kagame Cup title, having won it in 1980, 1981, and 1985, paraded a strong squad with newly signed Samuel Kapen from Nairobi City Stars getting his debut, Kevin Omondi started in goal with Philemon Otieno, Geofreey Ochieng, Joshua Onyango and Alpha Onyango manning the defensive line.

K’Ogalo’s midfield revolved around Sylvester Onyango, Lawrence Juma, Musa Masika, and Shariff Musa, while FKF Premier League Golden Boot winner with 19 goals, Benson Omalla spearheaded the attacking line assisted by Kapen.

After a 0-0 outcome in the first half, the deciding moment came in the 76th minute when substitute and veteran forward James Chamanga, tapped home precisely from a Saddam Yusuf Phiri assist.

Despite the defeat, Martins Neiva, refused to press the panic button saying although they had lost, there was still a lot of work to be done. “This was my first match in charge since I joined the team and there are things that I have to try and change and improve as well,” said Martins Neiva.

K’Ogalo’s second fixture will see them take on Telekom FC at the same venue on Saturday, July 13th at 16:00 (Kenyan time) before winding up their group campaign against Al Hilal, on Tuesday, July 16th.

The regional tournament which kicked off on July 9th with 12 teams, will climax on July 21st with the best team picking a cash prize of US$30,000, the runner-up US$20,000, and the third placed US$10,000. The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame supported the tournament with US$60,000 specifically for the cash prize.