Africa-Press – Uganda. This is the story and history of Vipers SC in the CAF Champions League. Edward Golola in 2016, Javier Espinoza in 2018, Fred Kajoba in 2020.
Different years, different coaches, same results. Losing to different opposition from West Africa (Nigeria), North Africa (Algeria), and East Africa (Sudan). Scoring just once in six matches. The more things have changed at the Kitende based club, the more they have remained the same.Al Hilal, the latest to account for Vipers underachievement maybe 27- time Sudanese champions but they come from an inferior East African footballing nation and the closest to identifying with Ugandan football. Vipers failed to score against them over two legs.This can’t be about the quality of the players. Ismail Watenga, Nicholas Wadada, Shafik Bakaki, Milton Kariisa, Erisa Sekisambu, Dan Sserunkuma, Paul Mucureezi, Derreck Ochan, Halid Lwalilwa, Geoffrey Wasswa, Moses Waiswa and Abraham Ndugwa who have during this four period been part of the failed campaigns are not the crème de crème of Ugandan players, but they make the grade for quality players with good experience. Vipers spent fortunes to acquire their services.Mexican coach Espinoza was brought in 2018 to address the problem of Golola’s lack of international exposure and experience. He was sacked after 15 games. Kajoba was welcomed as the ‘messiah’ and he even attributed his appointment to God, this having been his specific prayer for the new year 2020. The season ended with his first-ever league championship after benefitting from the default of the covid-19 pandemic which forced a board room decision within the FUFA regulations. Vipers celebrated the title and went on a spending spree to refresh and strengthen the team during the transfer window. After the first round of the new 2020-21 season, they are out of the CAF champions league in the first round of the preliminary stages without scoring a goal. The answer for Africa was not in Kajoba.Club apologists will argue that it was Kajoba’s first continental mission and several players were down with covid. During Espinoza time, they blamed the Mexican for having no clue in how to choose his best team and failure to select the best system for the team. From a neutral’s viewpoint, none of this explains the failure of one of the two leading clubs in Uganda for the last decade to stamp some kind of authority on the continent.The investment that has gone into building a solid infrastructure for the club in the last 10 years sores through the roof. From the grand stadium fully fitted with world-class related facilities, new team bus, ambulance, top class salary structure for the players and coaches together with an impressive brand promotion strategy that has attracted numerous corporate sponsors, the club owners have not left anything to chance.The fan base has also been growing in leaps and bounds at a time when top talents are attracted every season. For a club that has established itself as one of the best dealers in the transfer market in Europe and Africa from which they have made good business, it is inconceivable that success on the continent has not been top of the agenda. By all counts, therefore, their latest failure at the third time of asking at the same preliminary round goes down as gross underachievement. It must be frustrating.During the same period of four years, their local rival KCCA FC have registered one of their best performances on the continent in over two-and-a-half decades consistently. Not that they have had a far superior class of players or bigger resources. Whether it’s down to the class of Mike Mutebi, who interestingly is contemporary to both Golola and Kajoba, is a discussion for another day but what can’t wait is what KCCA are doing right and Vipers are doing wrong.Why would the Vipers owners invest fortunes in a club if their intentions were not to transform it into one of the biggest clubs in Africa? This could be the time, maybe, to change strategy and bring in top players from other African leagues. Big clubs with big ambitions must not leave anything to chance.
