Sharks’ new players share spoils with Sofapaka in Elite tournament
Kariobangi Sharks head coach William ‘Kanu’ Muluya has expressed optimism in his new squad after they managed to hold former premier league champions Sofapaka to a barren draw in the opening match of an eight-team pre-season Elite Cup tournament at Kasarani Stadium.
Sharks who suffered mass exodus during the transfer season, losing more than 12 key players, brought onboard 22 new faces and yesterday named six new players into their starting line-up.
Muluya insisted that the tournament is a good place to test up his squad as we gear up to the new season that may begin in a month’s time.
“I am impressed with how my players performed. I brought in 22 new players and the purpose of the tournament is to gauge them before the season gets underway,” Muluya told People Sport.
The Elite tournament is a eight-team tournament that kicked-off today and is set to run to Sunday. It is composed of other teams like Ulinzi, Bidco, City Stars, Bidco, Police, MCF and Rainbow FC.
Initially, six teams had enrolled for the tournament with Gor Mahia and Ulinzi Stars withdrawing at the last minute. However, Ulinzi made a U-turn on Monday to return to the competition.
Bidco United, National Super League side MCF and Rainbow FC also joined to increase the number of participants to eight.
The winner of the tournament is set to walk away with Sh 1million.
Coincidentally, the transitional committee had set league resumption on 24th of September only to again push it forward to 1st of October.
Meanwhile, Sharks were held to a barren draw in the opener. The match was cagey pointing to the rustiness of the two teams with Sharks first to quickly settle into the game as they rained attacks to their opponents.
Sofapaka on the other hand relied on counterattacks to try and break Shark’s solid set up but poor coordination made it to count for nothing.
