NAIROBI, March 6 -- Kenyan league champions Gor Mahia FC are out to cause an upset and evict the memories of their drubbing at the hands of Tunisian giants Esperance de Tunis in the home leg of their CAF Champions League first round tie on Wednesday.
"The Arabs are a hard nut to crack in their country. They employ other tactics that makes them unbeatable in their homeland. That's why we should strive to score as many goals as possible," Gor's former striker Peter Dawo said on Tuesday.
Erick Obura, who won four domestic league titles with the most decorated Kenyan club, said Esperance are not invincible, noting that Briton Dylan Kerr has enough quality in his team to shock the Tunisians.
"The club also has depth following the signing of able international players from Ivory Coast, Uganda and Rwanda among other nations," he said.
Esperance arrived in Kenya on Monday and headed straight to Machakos, 70km from the capital Nairobi where the match will kick-off at 3pm local time (+3GMT) at the Kenyatta Stadium.
Gor are sweating on the fitness of Ivorian Ephraim Guikan, who injured himself in a local league match but they will miss the services of Kenyan midfielder, Wellington Ochieng' who left their last game over the weekend with a leg knock.
Both teams come to the tie on rich domestic form, with both teams leading their league standings.
"I know Gor Mahia are out to get revenge for the loss in 2017. We cannot underestimate them because both sets of teams have made some serious modifications from the teams that lined up then," said Esperance coach Khaled Ben Yahia.
"They have home advantage for the first leg and having beaten us in 1987 will definitely give them confidence, so we have to tread carefully and hope for a good result," he added.
Gor are Kenya's only representatives in CAF competition running after rivals AFC Leopards SC crashed out of the CAF Confederations Cup on the away goals rule at the first hurdle to Mauritian side FOSA Juniors.