SportPesa Premier League 2018 champions Gor Mahia are scheduled to leave the country for the UK tomorrow morning ahead of their one-of-a-kind friendly with English Premier League club Everton FC on November 6.
Gor’s new signing Shafik Batambuze has been quickly fit into the role vacated by Uganda international, Godfrey Walusimbi who will play a key role when SportPesa Premier League winners, Gor Mahia FC take on Everton at Goodison Park. K’Ogalo snapped up fellow Ugandan and former SPL rivals Tusker FC’s left back from Tanzanian top-flight side Singida United FC. Batambuze is the only new signing in line to feature for Gor against Everton on Tuesday night (November 6).
Speaking on the eve of their departure to the UK on Thursday, Gor assistant head coach and former skipper, Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno is confident Batambuze is a capable replacement for fan-favorite Walusimbi who left the club under a cloud of controversy in August. “Since we lost Walusimbi to Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa, we have been having a great problem in the left back. Our expectation is that Batambuze will be up to the task in filling this void,” Otieno who led Gor to the 2017 SportPesa Cup title in Tanzania as an interim head coach remarked.
Batambuze is not a newcomer in the local football having won the SPL and domestic cup double with the brewers in 2016, famously scoring the winner as they sunk AFC Leopards SC 1-0 on May 28 at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru to secure the league crown. Soon afterward, he made a big money move to Singida which had just been promoted to the Vodacom Premier League in Tanzania and featured for the club in the inaugural Super Cup where their run ended at the hands of Leopards in the semifinals.
Batambuze will feature in head coach Dylan Kerr’s plan having acquired his Visa to travel to the UK on Thursday. In preparation for the UK tour, Gor players and staff were issued a new kit on Thursday ahead of their departure from the headquarters of the club’s title partner, SportPesa in Nairobi.
The squad received traveling bags, match-day suits, tracksuits, hoods, jackets, and an assortment of warm clothing with temperatures dipping to winter conditions in the UK. “It is also worth noting that this will be the first time that all the players and officials would be traveling in suits since the inception of the club. This is great and wonderful,” Otieno hailed.
He expects their contest against Everton, slated to kick off at 10 pm (+3 GMT EAT) to bring out the best from both teams. “We expect a tough match in England, but we are psyched to win the competition,” Otieno charged. The first fixture pitting Everton against Gor was hosted at the National Stadium in Tanzania on July 13, 2017 in front of a sold-out arena. Everton won the game 2-1 with Rwanda international, Jacques Tuyisenge netting for the Kenyan giants to leave the game level during halftime at 1-1. The Blues got their strikes courtesy of England icon, Wayne Rooney and Kieran McDowell who struck late on to deny K’Ogalo victory.
Gor Mahia booked another showdown against Marco Silva’s side when they humbled Simba SC 2-0 in the tournament’s final held this year at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru.
Here is the complete Gor Mahia FC squad that is going to face Everton at Goodison Park
1 Ochieng Lawrence Juma
2 Otieno Philemon Omondi
3 Eliud Ekadeli Lokuwam
4 Odhoji Shaban Ouma
5 Arasa Wesley Onguso
6 Omondi Wellington Ochieng
7 Obwaka Kevin Omondi
8 Tuyisenge Jacques
9 Asudi Raphael Okeyo
10 Owino Boniface Omondi
11 Samuel Onyango Ouma
12 Nizigiyimana Abdoul Karim
13 Achieng Joash Onyango
14 Kisia Ernest Wendo
15 Joachim Ochieng Oluoch
16 Nyambura Francis Kahata
17 Ondiek Benard Ochieng
18 Ochieng Humprey Mieno
20 Saramu Charles Momanyi
21 Lumumba Cersidy Okeyo
22 Mustafa Francis
23 Haron Shakava
24 George Odhiambo Ogutu
25 Otinda Fredrick Odhiambo
26 Boniface Oluoch
27 Dylan Kerr
28 Zedekiah Evans Otieno
