KCCA exit with pride

Alexandria.

For as long as Al Ahly remains involved in the Caf Champions League this season, the Egyptian giants will remember KCCA.
And not because KCCA is anything special or has the pedigree but the Ugandan club delivered its best package, enough to be remembered for long here despite a 4-3 defeat at the Borg El Arab Stadium on Tuesday night.
Collective defensive effort, resilience in the fight back from 1-0 down to 1-1, 2-1 to 2-2 and 4-2 to 4-3 seemed to have Al Ahly record eight titles vanish over the 90 minutes.
And the command of possession coupled with pressing in the latter half of the first stanza and the greater part of the second half kept Al Ahly chairman Mahmoud El-Khatib and the under 3000 fans on the edges of their seats. By full time, few would recall that this was a dead rubber for KCCA who had already fallen out in the race for the top two Group A slots to the quarterfinals.
Indeed, it was pride well-earned as Mike Mutebi’s side bowed out with six points from as many matches.
“To come away and play with no fear, that’s why you see the result 4-3,” a pretty delighted Mutebi said during the post-match press conference.

Attacking philosophy
Mutebi’s persistence with attack is beginning to pay off.
There’s been a tremendous improvement in away matches at the stage compared to last year. KCCA struck just thrice in six away games on the continent last term.
But the result means the Ugandan side scored six goals on the road in Antananarivo, Addis Ababa, Gaborone, Tunis and Alexandria with five in North Africa (two at Esperance). The only strange thing is that they have scored only five at home since the first round.
“The beauty of football is goals. So to play well and get the goals is satisfactory. Other teams come here and sit back but that’s not in our DNA,” Mutebi remarked.
It was the first match in 113 outings that Al Ahly had conceded more than twice. This had last happened when they lost to nemesis Zamalek 3-1 in the Egypt Cup final on August 8, 2016 at the same stadium.
“I have always said it is a Ugandan mentality that we can’t use the ball. And may be players are also not used to having the ball but as an emerging club, there are so many lessons we’ve learnt.”
Last year, KCCA suffered respective 1-0, 3-0 and 4-0 defeats at Al Masry, FUS Rabat and Club Africain.
“The difference was that they are more experienced than us, used the ball very well and the chances they got. We also paid for our carelessness,” Mutebi stated.
True, KCCA paid for recklessness in what underlines their defensive flaws on the night when the visiting symphony orchestra delivered its best song on the African stage.
More than once, goalkeeper Tom Ikara almost gave it away when he caressed the ball way too much. That’s not withstanding lapses of communication with debutant defender Peter Magambo.
Jackson Nunda, who struck the first for KCCA, was outstanding.

Caf champions league

RESULTS – GROUP A
Al Ahly (EGY) 4-3 KCCA (UGA)
Rollers (BOT) 0-0 Esperance (TUN)