When SC Villa stunned Nigeria’s Iwuanyanwu
Alex Kasujja (R) with other SC Villa officials follow the proceeding of the match between SC Villa and Nigeria’s Iwuanyanwu in Abuja in 1991.
What you need to know:
History. Soccer club Villa is one of the two Ugandan football clubs to have reached continental club football final, the other being the army side, Simba FC in 1974. In 1991, SC Villa shocked Nigeria’s Iwuanyanwu FC at their home ground. Alex Kasujja was a technical adviser to Villa president Patrick Kawooya when the team made history
Our Journey to Nigeria in 1991 when we defeated Iwuanyanwu FC in the semi-finals of African Club Championship as it was known at the time, started with the first leg at Nakivubo stadium where we won 3:2. All we needed in Nigeria was a draw to play in the final.
Two weeks before the match, Kawooya secured video tapes of Iwuanyanwu FC, in preparation for the return leg. The team watched the videos to correct our earlier mistakes. We had financial issues as government was not backing us, and we were up against a team backed by millionaire Chief Masood Abiola (RIP).
Playing dirty
When we left Entebbe airport, the mood in the camp was very high. In Nigeria, the hosts gave us our due respect until they started playing dirty.
First, they changed the match venue from Lagos to Abuja, 463 miles away, making us travel by bus, while the Nigerians travelled by air. The change in venue was to tire us, but Kawooya consoled the team not to lose hope.
On the match day, the Nigerians were so confident of beating us. But our boys; Mike Mukasa, Adam Ssemugabi, Robert Mukiibi, Geofery Higenyi, William Nkemba, Paul Hasule, Paul Nkata, Steven Bogere, Twaha Kivumbi, Sula Kato, Magid Musisi, Peter Nsaba, Robert Ssemakula, Zaidi Tebesigwa, Charles Ssimbwa, Paul Mukatabala and others showed what Villa was capable of.
Hours before the match, Kawooya sent a complaint to match officials, and asked for some few hours of rest. They responded positively and gave us five hours, which were spent watching our opponent’s videos. As we left the dressing room, Kawooya turned to team captain Paul Hasule (RIP) and said: “Paul, you must command the back as they will attack us from the start but if we contain them for the first 20 minutes, they will be finished.”
Kasujja talks to the press at Entebbe airport on the team’s return from Nigeria.
When we came through the dugout, the noise from the home fans, who had filled the stadium to capacity, was unbearable. One member of our delegation, Joe Muganzi (RIP), told the team: “Barking dogs never bite, let us go out and show them.”
For the first five minutes, Peter Nsaba, Magid Musisi, Sula Kato and Twaha Kivumbi were attacking, until Nsaba was fouled in the 18-yard box but the referee waved play on, denying us a penalty. I told Kawooya that this was a wakeup call
In the 20th minute, Iwuanyanwu attacked and there was body contact between our defender in our 18-yard box. To me, it was 50/50 body contact. The Togolese referee awarded the home team a penalty. In fact, Paul Hasule laughed off the decision. Adam Ssemugabi whispered something to Mike Mukasa (goal keeper).
I do not know what he told him, but Mukasa saved the penalty. To our surprise, the referee ordered it to be re-taken. Twaha Kivumbi shouted: “Noooooooo!” but he could not change anything. Mukasa saved it again, for the second time. The referee ordered another re-take. This time they scored.
By end of first half, we were a goal down. When we went to the dressing room, the coach told the team: “Let us keep the ball out of our own half and keep the pressure on them.” When the second half began, the boys were like wounded lions. We kept the pressure until the last minute of the game.
Iwuanyanwu supporters were singing, thinking they had already qualified for the finals. However, in the dying minutes of the match, Sula Kato curved in a corner kick, which was met by the magic head of Magid Musisi, and the ball was in the net. The stadium went dead silent.
When the referee blew the last whistle, some of us burst into tears of joy. We all ran to the pitch and hugged the players. The Nigerian players sat in the centre of the pitch, with some crying. They could not believe what had happened.
Our hosts accepted the elimination and Chief Masood Abiola came to Kawooya to congratulate him. Shortly after reaching the hotel we were staying in, we were told Chief Abiola had arranged a party to congratulate us for reaching the final. At the party, he donated fabric material to Kawooya. The next day, Kawooya gave each player extra pocket money for the achievement and allowed them to go shopping.
Heroes’ welcome
The match had been relayed live on Radio Uganda and fans back home knew we had qualified. They came in huge numbers to receive us.
We reached Entebbe at 12.30 pm. Fans Sanyu, Siraje Mbuga, Mugagga, and Umar Mandela organised a party for us at the airport, with a selected few fans. Express chief cheerleader mama Baker Kazibwe, addressed us. “SC Villa is for all Ugandans and for the first time, the team has united the country,” she said.
Jolly Mulindwa, another of the club officials, brought open roof cars for each player to be driven on from Entebbe to Calendar Guest House in Makindye, Kampala.
We left Entebbe at 1.45 pm, but because of the huge crowd, we reached our destination at 10:30pm.
People gathered by the roadside waving at us. At each trading centre, people gathered to welcome the finalists of the Africa big club competition. At Calendar Guest House, people celebrated with Afrigo Band until 8am the following day.
