Gor Mahia centre back Sylvester Owino is confident the club will defy all odds and clinch this year’s CECAFA Kagame Cup, despite being placed in the pool of death. The Kenyan champions are in Group B of the regional tournament alongside; Zambian champions Red Arrows, Sudan giants Al Hilal and Telcom FC of Djibouti. The tournament gets underway on Tuesday and will run all the way to Sunday 21 July in Tanzania with the Azam Complex and KMC facilities being the hosts venues. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7853##History does not favour K’Ogalo in the tournament as the team last scooped top honours in 1985, beating AFC Leopards 2-0 for the third cup. Owino, who alongside a majority of Gor Mahia players will be debuting in the tournament, says the team is good and hungry enough to bring the title home. Tanzanian champions Yanga set to sign Kenyan internationalFrom the current squad, only the quintet of long-serving Ernest Wendo, Geoffrey Ochieng, Boniface Omondi, Philemon Otieno and Lawrence Juma have played in the tournament before. “It is possible to win it. We have a good squad and the team has prepared well. We are coming up against good teams in the group but we are equal to the task,” said the centre back. Meanwhile, Owino insists that he is fit-enough to feature in the tournament whose winner will pocket in excess of Ksh3 million. There were fears that the Gor players who participated in the COSAFA Cup tournament, with the Emerging Stars in South Africa, would be too fatigued to play in the regional showpiece but Owino says he is ready. Owino, played in all three group stage matches in South Africa as his teammates; Benson Omala and Austin Odhiambo. Kenyan international training with South African side SuperSport United ahead of potential moveGor players have had limited rest time as the season concluded slightly over two weeks ago. “I am not thinking about holiday at the moment. The focus is on the Kagame Cup. Thankfully my season was balanced in terms of playing time,” stated the former Kakamega Homeboyz defender.
