Witchcraft claims cloud Gor Mahia’s march to Cecafa final
Gor Mahia booked a ticket to the finals of the ongoing Cecafa Club Championships on Friday afternoon with an impressive 3-1 win over Sudanese club Al Khartoum.
The victory was however clouded by allegations of witchcraft that had seen Gor Mahia’s players stay away from the dressing rooms in their previous matches at the National Stadium in Dar es salaam.
Amin Elmani scored the opening goal for the Sudanese club inside two minutes, but the Kenyan Premier League champions fought back and secured the win through goals from Micheal Olunga, Innocent Wafula and Meddie Kagere.
Winners of the regional tournament stand to win Sh3 million prize money.
CHANGE OF HEART
Head coach Frank Nuttal prevailed on his players on Friday and they finally agreed to use the dressing rooms in the semi-final match.
The Kenyan club had in their opening matches of this competition refused to use the dressing rooms on the premise of avoiding witchcraft, a development confirmed by a member of the team’s technical bench.
“We were reliably informed that the dressing rooms had been tampered with; someone had laced some chemicals and witchcraft so as to distract us during the opening game of the competition against the home team (Yanga SC).
“So we couldn’t take chances,” the official, who spoke to Nairobi News on condition his identity wasn’t revealed said.
YANGA OUT
The club’s players and technical bench are now comfortable using the changing rooms, the official added, “because Yanga has already been eliminated from this competition.”
In Sunday’s final, Gor Mahia will face host team Azam who labored to beat Ugandan side KCCA 1-0 in the second semifinal match at the same venue the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Farid Musa scored the match winner for Azam in the second half with a smashing volley from Ammy Ali’s cross.