Kenyan Premier League champions Police FC needed help of the away goals rule to progress to the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League after suffering a shock 2-0 return leg defeat against Somalian outfit Mogadishu City Club at Nyayo Stadium on Sunday.
The law enforcers went into the return leg tie as the home team, having won the first leg away meeting 3-1 at the same venue a fortnight ago. Despite carrying the advantage and being tagged as the favourites to progress, their chances remained in the balance until the end of the pulsating battle.
Mogadishu took a deserved lead in the 34th minute when Issa Yusuf finished off a looping ball past goalkeeper Khadime Ndiaye. The game went into the half-time break with the Somalian champions enjoying a 1-0 lead.
At the start of the second half, Police coach Etienne Ndariyagije was forced to make a triple change, Edward Omondi, David Okoth and Eusters Chasara coming in for Erick Zakayo, Alvin Mang’eni and David Simiyu.
However, the changes could not dampen Mogadishu’s efforts, as they doubled the scoreline in the 54th minute from the penalty spot. Abdikadir Enow, who was through on goal, was fouled by Joash Onyango, and Ibrahim Bungura stepped up to send Ndiaye the wrong way.
At 2-0, it meant Mogadishu needed to add one more goal to progress. They never gave up as they raided the Police danger zone, but they were not able to break down the home side’s resilient backline.
Police did not expect to lose balls
The Burundian tactician admitted that Police’s ability to move forward in search for goals was countered by Mogadishu, who went ahead to punish his side on two occasions.
“We had a very big problem with our last pass, we progressed well in the build-up but reaching at their danger zone, our passes got lost in between, most of the balls got lost unexpectedly, we did not expect to lose balls that way, especially when in a position to score,” Ndayiragije told Flashscore.
“It kicked the flow of our game, and further gave us a problem in transition because we were supposed to track back after losing the ball so as to the defend, but we couldn’t manage on two occasions and we got punished, our opponents knew that if we move forward, they had one or two players at our area, who could initiate counter attacks to punish us.”
He added: “The moment we moved forward to score, is when we allowed them to score against us, again in the second half, when we moved forward to score, they again scored. All in all, I want to thank my players for at least keeping what we had managed to gain from the first leg, and it helped us to qualify.”
Police will need to improve on their game to stand a chance of reaching the knockout stages of the lucrative competition. To progress, they will have to navigate past Sudanese Premier League champions Al Hilal S.C. in the second preliminary round.
Nairobi United advance to second preliminary round
Meanwhile, another Kenyan representative, Nairobi United, reached the second round of the Confederation Cup following a 1-1 draw against Uganda's National Enterprises Corporation (NEC FC) at Nyayo Stadium, on Saturday.
The Kenyan club, nicknamed Naibois, progressed thanks to the away goals rule, with the aggregate score tied at 3-3. During the first leg in Uganda, United had secured a comeback 2-2 draw.
The promoted FKF Premier League side will next face Tunisian side Étoile Sportive du Sahel in the next stage. The first leg will be played in Nairobi on October 17th, with the return leg slated for October 24th in Tunis.
