Kenya giants Gor Mahia head coach Leonardo Neiva has urged his players to go out and expose themselves in Saturday’s second leg of CAF Champions against Al Ahly in Cairo.
The 12-times African Champions League winners are carrying a 3-0 aggregate scoreline from the first leg encounter played last weekend.
K’Ogalo are in Cairo for the return match and face a daunting task against the Egyptian giants at what will be an intimidating venue.
Despite some fans calling it a dead rubber encounter, Neiva states that the result at the end of the match will not matter, with the focus being on giving his team experience.
The Brazilian coach urges the players to nonetheless market themselves by playing a good game against the defending champions.
“Never mind the result; if we qualify or not, this game is still [good], especially for the players to get experience and to expose themselves and also to show themselves because we have amazing players in Gor Mahia, and maybe later they can get a big proposal,” Neiva said.
Neiva expressed his pride in his team’s performance in the first leg, saying they had a strong chance to defeat Al Ahly but made mistakes that caused them to give up three goals at home.
From the first leg performance, Neiva has drawn inspiration and feels that if they play the same way and cut out mistakes, they can overturn the odds against Al Ahly.
“The first game we suffered a big defeat in Nairobi, but the goals we conceded were all mistakes. Al Ahly created three goals all from mistakes, and that is why fans and media from Egypt told me that we surprised them a little about the style of football we played with possession and good tempo,” Neiva said.