Africa-Press – Uganda. KCCA gaffer Sergio Traguil maintained that he was more than satisfied by his players’ spirited output in the 3-2 Caf Confederation Cup victory over Abu Salem on Saturday although they didn’t make the group stages.
In a thrilling game of two halves at the St Mary’s Stadium-Kitende – the first bossed by the hosts and the second with the visitors engaging more gears – Salem prevailed 5-4 on aggregate.
KCCA, granting rookies James Mubeezi and Juma Mutebi debuts at the grand stage, looked much-changed and surprised many by giving a good account of themselves against the North Africans.
Admitting that KCCA’s quest had been dealt a big blow in the earlier 3-1 Abu Salem rout in Tunis, Traguil revealed he was pleased with his lads’ efforts to conjure a miracle.
“We could have done better especially in Tunisia (a fortnight ago) because we are the ones that offered Salem free goals,” the 42-year-old Portuguese coach told Daily Monitor.
So near yet too far
In the return leg against the Libyans at Kitende, Traguil went for youngster Mutebi in goal instead of Derrick Ochan who had looked messy in the first leg and trusted debutant Mubeezi at the heart of the three-man defence.
Mubeezi, sandwiched by Peter Magambo and Emilson Gonzaga, showed nerves of steel from the start until the 69th minute when he was judged to have brought down Salem gangly striker Peter Nworah in the box.
Abdulmunem Aiyelan stepped up to score the resultant penalty that cancelled out Muhammad Shaban’s early strike for KCCA when he poked the ball past goalkeeper Amer Al Ageli who had soiled it into his path.
“Mubeezi made a mistake which to me was not a penalty but he is still young. They need time to understand key things in football. Salem had the strategy of wasting time and succeeded.
“We need to learn to handle the pressure at this level but I can’t blame my players because they are young,” he added.
It was apparent that KCCA were trying to punch above their weight after they scored a second goal through substitute Usma Arafat who headed in Silva Gui’s cross in the 84th minute only to concede the leveller two minutes later.
Angolan Gui put up a solid display in the middle of the park in the double pivot with Moses Waiswa but whatever magic they offered offensively was reversed in defensive shifts.
Mohamed Elghadi initiated a crisp touch-and-go move outside the box that he calmly finished off as the KCCA defence developed feet of clay.
Usama’s second and KCCA’s third goal arrived in the 90th minute when the damage had already been done and Salem players were ready to pop the champagne.
Way forward
“We showed that KCCA is a very good team building something special for this season and we lost out to Salem because they had experienced players.
All our three goalkeepers (Ochan, Mutebi and Anthony Emojong) are potential number ones and I’m glad that the defence this time looked more compact than the one in Tunisia,” Traguil emphasised.
The other takeaways from KCCA’s exits include Traguil’s willingness to give all his 30 players a chance, the thorny and bumpy road for foreigners to make an impact at the club and the enormous duress for the coach to deliver instant success.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
