Gor Mahia whipped out of Champions League 8-1

Milton Ochieng  at Nyayo Stadium

Gor Mahia were on Wednesday evening embarrassingly whipped out of the 2021 CAF Champions League losing 8-1 on aggregate to a fluent, enterprising and free-attacking Belouizdad of Algeria.

Gor faced mission impossible prior to the match. They had to score seven unanswered goals to advance to the group stage of the CAF Champions League but they crumbled at the sight of the Algerians.

Jules Ulimwengu gave the Kenyan side some faint hope when he scored in the 23rd minute but the fancied Algerians would have none of it striking twice for a 2-1 win and an 8-1 aggregate score.

AMir Sayoud and Abdelkader Belharane hit one each just in the tail-end of the clash at the Nyayo National Stadium – Nairobi.

Gor wanted to attack from the first whistle, but Belouizdad were comfortably employing numbers in the midfield, complicating their efforts to reach their final third effectively.

Just at the quarter-hour mark, captain Kenneth Muguna fired over the crossbar, before returning to setup Ulimwengu for the opener. Ulimwengu, having lots his marker picked the loose ball looped unto him by the former FK Tirana attacker and was accurate in burying it home through the legs of Belouizdad’s keeper.

Gor were determined quite unsure of what to do, and could not sustain the mojo.

Larbi Tabti had only Gad Matthews to beat and would have levelled just a minute to the breather, but his plan to loop over the advancing Gor custodian was well read and denied.

In the second stanza, Belouizdad grew hungrier, with Youccf Beuchou coming close twice as Gor’s zeal gradually diminished.

Their pressure finally yielded with 12 minutes on the clock, Sayoud beating Matthews from a free-kick just outside the box, following Michael Apudo’s foul on Bechou.

Belharane’s 84th minute goal served a sweet end for the visitors, having been picked by Sayoud confirming their prowess over Gor, whose first leg 6-0 loss in Algiers complicated Wednesday’s match from the start.

Gor will now drop to the second tier CAF competition, the Confederations Cup, where they will be subjected to a two-leg playoff to fight for a spot in the group stage.