AFC Leopards head coach Fred Ambani is enraged by his team’s disappointing performance against Sofapaka, where they were held to a goalless draw on Wednesday, February 19 at the Dandora stadium.
As they prepare for their next fixture, the highly anticipated Mashemeji Derby against archrivals Gor Mahia, Ambani’s frustration is palpable.
The derby, originally scheduled for November last year, was postponed due to the unavailability of a suitable stadium.
However, both teams and their supporters now have something to look forward to as the match was rescheduled to Sunday 2 March at the Nyayo Stadium.
“COMING SOON: Mashemeji Derby, March 2nd, 2025, Nyayo National Stadium. Don’t miss out. Set a reminder early!” read a post from the host, AFC Leopards.
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As the team gears up for this highly anticipated match, Ambani expressed his dissatisfaction with their performance against Sofapaka, even suggesting that he wished his team had lost.
“We played for 90 minutes but to be honest, I am not impressed with how we played. I don’t want to lie to you, we played a very bad game. I even wanted my team to lose. Now we have to go back, sit down with the players, know what went wrong and then we rectify the mistakes,” Ambani told Flashscore.
He identified specific areas where the team faltered, leading to the dropped points.
“If you look at how we played, we were not aggressive upfront, we were not effective the way we always play. At the moment when wide areas don’t work, it means we have a problem in the team.
We will have to go to the drawing board and check what happened, look at what we can do to improve, because if you look, we did not attack as we are used to. We created minimal chances but we always create many chances,” he explained.
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Ambani acknowledged that the disappointing performance was a wake-up call as they prepare for the Mashemeji Derby next weekend.
“Even from the buildup we were very slow, we can’t anticipate having speed upfront when the midfield area is very slow. In fact from goalkeeping, defensive, midfield and to the attacking areas, we have a problem which needs urgent intervention.
It is a wake-up call heading to the derby, and maybe these performances will help us to wake up at least from where we had gone to sleep,” he added.
He also noted that the poor display might ultimately benefit the team ahead of the derby.
“I feel the poor display has helped us because it comes before the derby, we could have gone into the derby with confidence, thinking we will go straight and beat Gor Mahia, and then we spoil things, so at least we have a challenge to go and do the things right before the derby.”
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With AFC Leopards trailing the league leaders Kenya Police FC by seven points (41) and only two points behind record champions Gor Mahia (36), they will be aiming for all three points to keep themselves firmly in the title race.