Akumu features in Chiefs draw as Marcelo's AIK go joint top

Kenyan internationals Anthony Akumu and Eric Marcelo Ouma registered a draw and win respectively on Sunday evening for Kaizer Chiefs and AIK who moved to joint top on the log.

Anthony Akumu 

Kenyan international Anthony Akumu was a late substitute as Kaizer Chiefs kickstarted their South African Soccer Premier League campaign with a barren draw against TS Galaxy.

Chiefs were looking for a better showing in the league after finishing a disappointing eighth last campaign and started this season with a loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN 8 last weekend.

Amakhosi were hoping to draw inspiration from their fairytale CAF Champions League run that saw them get into the final in their debut campaign but lost to a bullist Al Ahly side under the tutelage of Pitso Mosimane.

Stuart Baxter’s men started the game brightly with Kgaogelo Sekgota and Samir Nurkovic missing early chances as Chiefs went into the halftime break locked in a barren draw.

TS Galaxy sat deep in the second half looking to avoid defeat as they maintained a compact shape that Chiefs struggled to break down as it was attack versus defence in the closing half.

Akumu was introduced in the 89th minute in place of Cole Alexander who bagged the man of the match award as Chiefs threw the kitchen sink at TS Galaxy who held on for the point.

Erick Marcelo Ouma

Former Gor Mahia left wing-back Erick Marcelo Ouma returned to feature for AIK in the 2-1 win over Häcken in the Swedish Allsvenskan after serving a suspension.

Marcelo missed the 1-0 win over Sirius last time out in the league after accumulating three yellow cards this season but featured in a 5-0 thumping of Rågsved in a midweek cup game.

AIK had a perfect start to the game as they needed only three minutes to open the scoring through Sotirios Papagiannopoulos who scored his first goal of the season.

The 2018 Swedish champions had a mirror start to the second half as they doubled their lead six minutes after the resumption of the second half through Bilal Hussein.

Häcken pulled one back in the 78th minute when Tobias Heintz halved AIK’s lead to set up a tense final 12 minutes of the game but Marcelo's side held on for the win.