Technical University of Kenya (TUK F.C) are braced for a fight of the year against Jericho All Stars in inaugural Sportpesa Super 8 Champions League final at Nyayo stadium, Nairobi, Sunday, November 13, 2016.
The West Conference big-shots are again on the path to glory in the clash billed as West vs East final, after failing to defend their Sportpesa Super 8 premier league title, which Kayole Asubuhi walked away with in September.
After winning the 9th edition of the SportPesa Super 8 Soccer Tournament in 2015 in style, TUK were left immensely devastated after failing to retain the title in September, even though the stakes had been raised astronomically high after the tournament achieved league status, thus becoming the SportPesa Super 8 Premier League (SPS8 PL), thanks to a sponsorship deal between Extreme Sports Limited, the company that runs the league and sponsor SportPesa.
However, all is not lost for the ‘Hummers’ as they are in contention of the Champions League crown of the first ever SPS8 Champions League crown. By virtue of finishing third in the league the university students who are the West conference champions got another shot at silverware this year and will be out to atone their misfortunes in the champions league when they tackle Jericho.
This is anticipated to be a cracker final that will mark the climax of the ‘Wakilisha Mtaa Yako’ campaign slogan with the day’s winner walking home with half a million Kenya Shillings.
Road to Final
Coached by Lukas Aluoch and assisted by Francis Oduor, TUK have demonstrated why they deserve the West Conference Kings tag in the campaign. They recently emerged 5-4 winners over Meltah Kabiria in the semi-finals of the Sps8 Champions League last Sunday, October 30, a result that earned them a ticket to the final.
Before this they had laid bare their intent to win the trophy two weeks ago by commencing their campaign with a 3-1 thumping of Kawangware United at the quarter finals stage in an entertaining fixture that attracted thousands of fans at City Stadium.
Team Profile
TUK is an institutional run club representing the Technical University of Kenya formerly Kenya Polytechnic situated along Haile Selassie Avenue in the central business district.
The team is as old as the institution itself and has over the years been active and conspicuous in various campus football leagues as well as other tournaments within and outside of Nairobi County.
TUK’s consistency and steady performances has seen them curve a respectable status for themselves in the football circles in Nairobi especially after winning the much celebrated the 2015 SPS8 tournament.
In this year’s SPS8 premier league, they performed exceptionally well and have been one of the most feared opponents in the league. They represent the Starehe region which comprises neighbourhoods such as Race Course, Ziwani, Ngara, Pangani, Mathare, Huruma and the entire CBD.
Key Players
TUK train every day in the evening at the Railway Training Institute (RTI) in South B and Jeconiah Uyoga has been one of their main weapon of destruction. He narrowly missed out on the top scorer’s award this year after being named the most valuable player last year.
TUK’s dreaded striker Jeconiah Uyoga.
Uyoga is the clubs leading scorer with 26 goals and he is expected to once again lead the goal searching escapades for his side in the champions’ league final.
Steven Odhiambo has also played a key role for the Hummers, the forward joined the team during the June transfer window, and immediately clicked well with Jeco and Evans Otieno on the right wing, and Dennis Alila on the left flank to help the Lukas Aluoch’s team to reach where they are now.
TUK’ midfield is occupied by the towering Boniface Okomo and Tony Ouko, who are responsible for engineering the attacks, while the rear guard is manned by captain Kelvin Okomo as the central defender together with Nicholas Otieno, while the left side is handled by Calvin ‘Marcelo’ Odhiambo as Phillip Mwathathe takes the right back position. Paul ‘Jaguar’ Maina is the team’s keeper.
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