Friday, July 24

Gor Mahia Vs APR FC, at 7PM

Venue: Amahoro Stadium

Gor Mahia head coach Charles Akonnor believes his side can deliver a much-improved performance against APR FC in Friday's Group A clash of the CECAFA Kagame Cup, despite having only two weeks of preparations.

The Kenyan champions' coach acknowledged that balancing pre-season training with competitive football has been challenging but insisted the tournament offers an important opportunity to build towards the CAF Champions League next season.

"It's a little bit challenging preparing for pre-season and at the same time trying to do well in such tournaments," Akonnor said in a pre-match press conference. "We are aware of the importance of this tournament and we will showcase our talent tomorrow. We will try and do our best."

Gor Mahia lost 2-0 to Rayon Sports in Kigali on July 17 but the coach said the result had provided valuable lessons rather than cause for concern.

"We've gone through the mistakes we made in our previous match and we hope to improve tomorrow," he said. "We are not too worried about anything, but we've taken this one very seriously because it is important for our fans to have a good start."

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Akonnor said his technical bench has conducted video analysis sessions with players to address defensive lapses exposed in the loss to Rayon Sports.

"What happened against Rayon was an individual mistake defensively," he said. "Today, as we speak, there&039;s video analysis going on with the players, showing them exactly what we did wrong."

While many have tipped hosts APR as favourites due to home advantage, Akonnor dismissed those factors as excuses.

"The opponent started training earlier than us, but that is no excuse," he said. "We've seen the areas we need to improve and once we do that, there will be a bigger chance for us to win."

The match kick-off is scheduled at 7pm at Amahoro Stadium.