Rachier lifts the lid on Austin Odhiambo's long absence from Gor Mahia duty

Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier has come out to explain the dilemma surrounding the absence of club midfielder Austin Odhiambo from camp, since featuring for Harambee Stars at the invitational COSAFA Tournament in South Africa.

According to Rachier, Odhiambo did not to feature for the club at the regional CECAFA Kagame Cup after citing personal reasons, which he says the club did not seek further details.

“He excused himself from travelling with the team to Tanzania citing personal reasons. We let him stay behind, but when we returned, he immediately joined the rest of the team in training,” explained Rachier.

His absence from the team at the regional club competition was heavily felt, with Gor Mahia registering only a point from three matches.

They lost their first match to Zambia’s Red Arrows before sharing spoils with Telkom of Djibouti in the second match.

They then lost 2-0 against Al Hilal Omdurman in their last group stage match.

The chairman further stated that the outspoken midfielder also failed to travel to Tanzania recently for a pre-season friendly against Fountain Gate, citing an unfortunate incident where the player lost a cousin and had some of his relatives involved in a road accident.

“We were aware he lost a cousin, and his aunt also got involved in a road accident while enroute to Nairobi to mourn a lost relative. We permitted him to stay back for the funeral.”

Rachier once again confirmed that the midfielder immediately joined the rest of the team in training after they arrived from the pre-season match.

He however said Odhiambo is in the squad travelling to South Sudan tomorrow for the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League against Al Merreikh Bentiu set for Sunday, August 18, 2024, in Juba, South Sudan.

“We have granted him all the time he wanted. He is in our plans for the CAF Champions League and he is among those travelling tomorrow to Juba for the preliminary round against Al Merreikh Bentiu,” he added.

A win for K’Ogalo in the two-legged tie will see them face Egyptian and CAF Champions League defending champions, Al Ahly in the next phase.

Meanwhile, Rachier confirmed that his lead striker Benson Omala has penned a two-year deal with Lebanese side Al Safa.

The chairman did not, however, disclose the monetary value involved in the deal.

“Yes, Benson signed a two-year deal with a Lebanese club three days back and will play for them for two years. I will not however speak on the value of the transfer for now,” he noted. 

Omala had earlier on missed out on a two-year transfer deal with Algerian top tier side, Constantine, due to delays in logistics which saw him fail to fly to Algiers.

He won the golden boot in last season’s FKF Premier League, finishing the season with 19 goals, an achievement said to have attracted the interest of the oil rich Lebanese league team.

Meanwhile, Rachier has expressed lauded the Gor team for their recent impressive form and tactics introduced by Brazilian tactician Leo Neiva.

“From my own observation, and from reports from the technical bench, the team is much improved, and we expect them to put a mark in the CAF Champions League campaign.”