Friday, July 24
Gor Mahia Vs APR FC, at 7PM
Venue: Amahoro Stadium
Gor Mahia head coach Charles Akonnor believes his facet can ship a much-improved efficiency in opposition to APR FC in Friday's Group A conflict of the CECAFA Kagame Cup, regardless of having solely two weeks of preparations.
The Kenyan champions' coach acknowledged that balancing pre-season coaching with aggressive soccer has been difficult however insisted the event presents an essential alternative to construct in direction of the CAF Champions League subsequent season.
“It's a little bit bit difficult getting ready for pre-season and on the identical time attempting to do properly in such tournaments,” Akonnor mentioned in a pre-match press convention. “We’re conscious of the significance of this event and we are going to showcase our expertise tomorrow. We’ll try to do our greatest.”
Gor Mahia misplaced 2-0 to Rayon Sports activities in Kigali on July 17 however the coach mentioned the outcome had offered worthwhile classes somewhat than trigger for concern.
“We've gone by means of the errors we made in our earlier match and we hope to enhance tomorrow,” he mentioned. “We aren’t too apprehensive about something, however we've taken this one very significantly as a result of it can be crucial for our followers to have begin.”
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Akonnor mentioned his technical bench has performed video evaluation periods with gamers to handle defensive lapses uncovered within the loss to Rayon Sports activities.
“What occurred in opposition to Rayon was a person mistake defensively,” he mentioned. “As we speak, as we communicate, there's video evaluation happening with the gamers, exhibiting them precisely what we did incorrect.”
Whereas many have tipped hosts APR as favourites on account of house benefit, Akonnor dismissed these components as excuses.
“The opponent began coaching sooner than us, however that’s no excuse,” he mentioned. “We've seen the areas we have to enhance and as soon as we do this, there might be a much bigger likelihood for us to win.”
The match kick-off is scheduled at 7pm at Amahoro Stadium.
