CAF Confederation Cup
CAF Confederation Cup: KCCA Unmasked- Tactics, Style and Personnel
BY SAMMY WEJINYA
Nigeria’s Rivers United will on Tuesday face Uganda’s KCCA as the battle in the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup resumes. The Nigerian side is facing a very special KCCA squad! They have managed to accomplish what no other side before them (since the club was founded in 1963) could.
They managed to win the double; a feat completed on Thursday June 15 when they beat Paidha Black Angels 2-0 in the FUFA Cup final in Arua.
KCCA had earlier wrapped up the Ugandan league title this season making them the undisputed heavyweights of Ugandan football at this point in time.
The Kasasiro Boys (Garbage Collectors) are riding the crest of a wave and their stars believe they can walk on water following a string of impressive results in recent weeks.
So how can they be stopped at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium on Tuesday?
The Coach
Mutebi is widely viewed as a father figure in Uganda. He’s never scared of giving youth a chance and six of his charges played for the Cranes, Uganda’s national team in last weekend’s 1-0 away victory over Cape Verde in 2019 Afcon qualifying.
The playing style of KCCA is direct with fluid passing and movement of individuals in the final third interchanged at pace.
As far as formation goes, Mutebi is no Dinosaur! The tactician is flexible but usually favours a 4-4-2 or 5-2-3-1 depending on the opposition.
It is extremely likely that he will slant towards the latter on Tuesday for very obvious reasons
The Backline
The major weakness of KCCA is their defence. Goalkeeper Benjamin Ochan is an impressive goalkeeper but he is no Manuel Neuer!
The back four can also be suspect and have a penchant for losing concentration at key moments, largely due to the lack of years of key dramatis personae in this area of the pitch.
Paul Musamali, Timothy Awani, Isaac Muleme and Denis Okot Oola, the captain are sure bets to start in the KCCA defence on Tuesday.
Mutebi could throw in an extra defender as the priority will be NOT to lose to the Nigerian vice-champions on enemy territory.
The Midfield
This is KCCA’s biggest strength/potent weapon. Mutebi’s ‘middlemen’ NEVER stop running in any game.
They interchange positions delightfully, engage in dizzying spells of one-touch possession football and keep opponents guessing.
Tom Masiko (Jnr), the son of club legend, Tom (Snr) has grown in leaps and bounds in the last couple of years.
He worried the Rivers United defence to no end at Lugogo in the reverse fixture and is sure to start on the right side of the KCCA midfield on Tuesday.
Another midfielder that the United defenders will do well to keep an eye on is Muzamiru Mutyaba.
The ‘poor man’s Diego Armando Maradona’ is a midfielder of the highest quality and basically every attacking move of side passes through him.
Blessed with uncanny vision, low centre of gravity and nimble footwork, he was the liveliest creative KCCA player in the reverse fixture.
If Mutyaba plays well on Tuesday, Rivers United could well be in serious trouble! The Rivers United defenders are probably still having nightmares of him following that devastating display two weeks ago at Lugogo!
The Strikers
As far as strikers are concerned, the twin terrors are Geoffrey Serunkuma and Derrick Nsibambi.
Serunkuma has yet to open his account in the CAF Confederation Cup despite scoring four times in this season’s CAF Champions League.
He’s hungry….very hungry for goals and will want to ‘eat’ at YGS on Tuesday! Nsibambi needs no introduction to the Rivers United faithful.
He netted a brilliant double to put them to the sword at the Philip Omondi Stadium, Kampala on June 3.
The Dangerman
The one man who could be the standout performer on Tuesday is a youngster; born on December 28, 1999 he is widely viewed as the future of Ugandan football.
Enter, Golden boy, Allan Okello!
Fresh faced, talented and fearless! Okello reminds one of Lionel Messi! You know what he’s going to do but you are absolutely powerless to stop him when he orchestrates it!
He was a thorn in the flesh of Rivers United’s defenders in the first leg with his direct running and intelligent runs off the ball.
So it appears pretty straightforward….cage Okello, Masiko and Mutyaba at YGS on Tuesday and (no prizes guessing), the supply line to Serunkuma and Nsimbabi is nullified!
If KCCA don’t score, chances are that Rivers United will win especially with the well-documented issues with the defence of the Ugandan double winners.
United have been poor offensively domestically but have looked a completely different proposition on the continent.
The Pride of Rivers have scored in all their previous continental matches at YGS against AS Real Bamako (Mali), Al Merreikh (Sudan), Rayon Sports (Rwanda) and FUS Rabat (Morocco).
CAF Confederation Cup
CAF adjudges Morocco’s Youssef Mehri’s goal as the fastest in football history
Moroccan club, Renaissance de Berkane, beat their Algerian counterparts, CS Constantine, 4-0 in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals at the weekend.
The game got off to a dream start for the Moroccan club as it took Youssef Mehri less than a minute to open the scoring in the big win against the Algerians.
Officially, the goal is recorded to have been scored after 13 seconds.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), CAF remarks: “Youssef Mehri goes straight into the history books. The RS Berkane striker scores the fastest goal ever scored in the CAF Cup.”
A deeper search by Sports Village Square indicates that a Nigerian player, Paul Onuachu, had previously scored a faster goal, but not in a CAF Cup duel.
The basketball player-like footballer scored his first international goal in a 1-0 defeat of Egypt on 26 March 2019.
The goal inflicted Nigeria’s first defeat on Egypt in 29 years. But more significant was the timing of the goal. Onuachu, within eight seconds of kick-off, undoubtedly entered the record books as the second fastest goal in international football records after that of Germany’s Lukas Podolsk, who scored after six seconds in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013.
Fans had hardly settled down at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba for the Nigeria versus Egypt match when Onuachu released a thunderous shot that turned out to be the match’s decider.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
The Renaissance Sportive de Berkane delegation will travel to Algeria this Friday to face CS Constantine in the CAF Cup. Tension may be building up for the potentially explosive confrontation that could have a build-up from last year’s fixtures of the Moroccan club and another Algerian outfit, USM Algiers, in the CAF Confederation Cup.
A Moroccan news outlet, Sport.le360, reports that a Tunisian airline will operate the direct flight between Oujda-Angad Airport, which is located about 12 kilometres north of Oujda and about 600 kilometres northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border and Constantine Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport.
Last year, political differences between Morocco and Algeria scuttled similar semi-final clashes between clubs of both countries.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday ruled in favour of the Algerian football federation in a row over a map of Morocco on shirts worn by Renaissance Berkane in the 2024 CAF Confederation Cup.
Algerian club USM Alger were kicked out of last year’s competition after both legs of their semi-final against Berkane were cancelled because of a diplomatic dispute.
Neither match took place as USMA and the Algerian authorities objected to a map of Morocco on the Berkane shirts which included Western Sahara.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with North African neighbours Morocco in 2021, partly over the Western Sahara issue.
The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks the territory’s independence.
The Confederation of African Football awarded Berkane a 3-0 victory for both legs of the semi-final.
CAF at the time responded to an appeal by the Algerian FA by ruling in favour of Berkane, saying the club had been wearing the same jerseys since the start of the tournament.
But the Algerian FA took the case to sport’s highest court in Switzerland, which determined that the shirts in question were “contrary to CAF regulations, as they display a territorial map that is of a political nature.”
“The image of a map of Morocco including Western Sahara on the shirts of RS Berkane depicts a message, a demonstration or propaganda of a political nature as it represents the assertion of a territorial dispute that is contested and still unresolved as of today,” CAS said in a statement.
“By the laws of the game of the International Football Association Board, it is prohibited to convey any content of a political nature on all equipment, including shirts.”
CAS added that the initial decision by CAF to “maintain the approval of the shirts is annulled”, but the court said that it would have no effect on the results of the tournament.
Egypt’s Zamalek beat Berkane on away goals in the final.
-AFP
Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Nigeria Premier League attains a crescendo this weekend
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Morocco 2025: Nigeria qualify for FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup
- WOMEN'S FOOTBALL7 days ago
Naira rain falls on Nigeria’s Flamingos after a 4-0 defeat of Algeria
- OBITUARY4 days ago
NFF mourns the demise of former FIFA referee, Bosede Momoh
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Financial rainfall awaits Nigeria’s Flamingos for every goal scored in Algeria
- U-17 AFCON7 days ago
Morocco crowned CAF U-17 AFCON champions after dramatic penalty shootout win over Mali
- U-20 FOOTBALL6 days ago
Nigeria begin CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations title chase with Tunisian clash
- feature4 days ago
Ghana’s Cardinal, Appiah Turkson, listed as a possible Pope
- Nigerian Football6 days ago
Remo Stars maintain ‘7Up’ lead over Rivers United
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Former WAFU President, Ogufere mourns Christian Chukwu