NAIROBI, Kenya, September 7, 2026 – Against all odds and with the quality on paper, Gor Mahia head coach Charles Akonnor believes his team can do the impossible by getting a positive result in the second leg of their Caf Champions League tie against African giants Pyramids FC.
The Ghanaian has not thrown in the towel yet, promising that he will craft a strategy on how to get a win in Cairo, in a fortnight.
“It’s too early to talk about it…you never know. We’ll find a strategy, an idea of how we want to play in Cairo and then we’ll see the way forward,” Akonnor said.
K’Ogalo head to Egypt with the need to outscore their opponents by at least two goals if they are to even have a sniff at reaching the second round of the preliminary round.
A 2-0 loss to the continental moneybags at the Nyayo Stadium on Sunday was a timely reminder of the hills and mountains Kenya has to scale before competing at par with their North African counterparts.
The crowd at the 30,000-seater stadium had barely settled in their seats when the visitors found the back of the net via Walid El Karti in the fifth minute.
K’Ogalo seemed like a deer stuck in headlights and their timidity proved costly again as Pyramids added a second through Mahmoud Saber’s thunderous strike in the stoppage time of the first 45.
Should they gain a positive result away from home, Akonnor’s men would be carving their names in history books, becoming the third Kenyan side to go to North Africa and emerge unscathed.
Nairobi United famously beat Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel 7-6 on post-match penalties in last year’s Caf Confederation Cup — a result that earned them passageway to the group stages of the previous competition.
Closer home, Gor themselves ground out a 2-2 draw against another Tunisian side, Esperance, in the 1987 Africa Cup Winners’ Cup, which eventually earned them a first-ever continental crown.
The gargantuan task notwithstanding, Akonnor believes there are a lot of positives from Sunday’s match, which he can work with to better his charges.
“There were a lot of good signs especially in the second half. In the first half, there was a little bit of lack of concentration. This gave them the advantage and they scored. In the second half, it got better and we created a number of chances,” the former Ghana national team coach said.
Nonetheless, the delayed start of the FKF Premier League is a cause of headache for the gaffer who admits it has starved his players of much-needed competitive action.
“I would have wished that we had played three or four league matches before this. It just gives you team spirit and momentum and unfortunately, that is not the case. But, that is not an excuse,” Akonnor bemoaned.
Whereas their Egyptian rivals have played four league matches — and won all of them — K’Ogalo have yet to play albeit they competed at the Cecafa Club Championships and the FKF Cup final against Tusker FC.
All that is water under the bridge for Akonnor and Co who will have to regroup for the battle ahead in Cairo.
League action or not, a David vs Goliath battle awaits them in two weeks’ time and it would behoove them to dust themselves, get up and get to strategising for another long 90 minutes in North Africa.
