By Fredrick Nadulli aka Razor,
With the premier league already ended and boys gone home to mummy,Kenya club football will see a wrap on Saturday when the GOtv Shield final is played at the Afraha Stadium in Nakuru.
And although,inexplicably,there is a pending match to play in the league pitting Sony Sugar against AFC Leopards,the fixture has now been overtaken by events.Sony are yet to host AFC in the second leg.
Nevertheless,the Awendo side badly need the results,to afford them a top table finish and a place in next season’s Top 8 knockout tournament.AFC,already assured of the same,can afford to either let down their guard or play the spoiler role,if only to settle scores with the sugarmen for giving them many a sleepless night.For them,the match has little stakes,save for the small matter of ‘bragging rights’.
CRUNCH TIME IN NAKURU
Rangers and Sofapaka seek to bag the only slot left for continental football,the other of course having gone with TPL champions Gor Mahia.Winners of this trophy represent the country in the CAF confederations cup.
Sofapaka have been very impressive this year in all competitions,finishing only second to Gor after pushing the title race to the wire.Their resilience meant the league was decided on the very last day and Gor had to constantly check over their shoulders.
Watching Gor run away with it may have taken some wind off their sails,but Sam Timbe’s men played their part in an enterprising race and will want to make amends with victory in the Shield.
A win for them will ensure Kenya is represented in Africa by two of its best sides by order of ranking.
However,they will not have it all their way,as Rangers lurk in the shadows.The mailmen are buoyed by promotion to the top tier league after some gritty,nerve-wracking displays in the lower division and are riding the crest of fine form going into this final fixture.Their underdog tag takes some load off their shoulders and gives them an added impetus.
Parading a galaxy of experienced former internationals,Rangers are sure to match Sofapaka man by man in a pulsating match pundits are finding hard to predict.It is a perfect clash of a wounded premier league big-shot fighting for scraps against a boisterous, promoted low tier side keen to justify its elevation to the big stage.
Their perfomance will be a sneak preview of what to expect of them come next season.They have doubting thomases to prove wrong.Sofapaka will not let this slip through their fingers,they have a gargantuan ego to protect.
All these are makings of a vintage cup final Au revoir 2014.
