KCCA FC has work cut out, but is not a goner

KCCA FC fans have in the past few days found themselves caught in a swirling vortex of emotions. After gleefully watching Muhammad Shaban expertly head their side to the money-spinning group stage of the Caf Champions League, a few nails were bitten as the club faithful watched group slots being drawn Wednesday night.
There was a compelling storyline when paths crossed with Botswana’s Township Rollers. Although the Kasasiro Boys were as about as artful as a long-game report after they parted ways with Ivan Ntege, the reflection of a less glamorous truth was hard to mask. A truth that the ‘divorce’ could have perhaps been handled better.

Indeed, Mike Mutebi was seen by many as being so grotesquely dismissive of Ntege’s abilities en route to severing ties with the holding midfielder.
Back to his zestful best, the Township Rollers midfield bulwark will undoubtedly love to get one-up on former employers that hang him out to dry.
Of course the draw was about much more than the reunion with Ntege. The inclusion of record winners Al Ahly and Espérance de Tunis made KCCA’s group drift inexorably towards staking a pressing claim to being dazzlingly complicated.

North African power
Some observers have been quick to state that it will be unimaginable for the two Northern African Titans not to progress at the expense of KCCA and Township Rollers. That such an outcome (of Ahly and Espérance biting the dust) can only play out on a scale once imagined only in dystopian fictions.

Not that KCCA is losing sleep over such gloomy forecasts. Mutebi has spoken glowingly of an unflinching belief percolating through his young team. A belief that the team belongs at the big time. For some, the claim is an odd and striking thing to hear. They can’t look past a scenario that has KCCA making up the numbers at the group stage.
A similar mood was caught in the run-up to last season’s Caf Confederation Cup.

The Kasasiro Boys were not expected to punch above their weight after drawing Club Africain (Tunisia), FUS Rabat (Morocco) and Rivers United (Nigeria) at the group stage. They defied the odds on the back of masterclasses at Lugogo before missing out on the quarterfinals by a whisker (goal difference). Another similar backs-against-the-wall display will no doubt carry with it an emotional resonance matched by few others.