Sekagya can achieve as coach, what he failed as player

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Comment. The fresh New York Red Bulls backroom staffer achieved more than any other Ugandan footballer at club level but failure to lead the Cranes to Afcon will always blot his otherwise successful career. He can, however, wash that dirt off by leading Uganda there as coach

For sheer class, discipline, leadership and longevity you have to take your hats off when a player, who defied time and odds to succeed when conditions dictated otherwise, gracefully calls time on his career.

And when Ibrahim Sekagya, well into his 30s, confirmed he had ended his eminent vocation as an active footballer at the weekend, thoughts of where the hitherto New York Red Bulls defender falls amongst the country’s greats immediately filled Ugandans’ minds.
For a country that last appeared at the Africa Cup of Nations in 1978 – then 2-0 losing finalists to hosts Ghana; and one where our best football exports have majorly manifested in South Africa, lowly Eastern Europe leagues and just next door, Sekagya is arguably the most successful at club level.
His enduring story of how he left KCC in 2001 to try out his luck in lower divisions of Argentina is one of a battle-hardened soul determined to succeed where no other Ugandan had. An Italian agent, Giacomo Albrieux, made it possible.

Rocky, yet fruitful journey
The former State House defender is said to have found the season’s financial books already reconciled when he arrived at second tier side Atlético de Rafaela in 2001; so he had to earn only bonuses for the start.
Despite that uncertainly, cultural shocks and all - the man, who started his football as a local boy at ‘Kataka’ in Kawempe, soldiered on.
As tough luck would have it, he moved to Ferro Carril Oeste – a division lower – but helped them to promotion to division two.
It is from here that topflight side Arsenal de Sarandi noticed his excellent game reading and confortable distribution of the ball to sign him on a two-year deal in 2005.
A move to Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg in 2007 saw him win three Austrian Football Bundesliga titles in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2011-12, plus the Austrian Cup in 2012 – the year he become the first African to captain a European side to a league double.
The Major League Soccer (MLS) Supporters’ Shield in 2013 – the year he moved there - was the only title he won at Red Bulls in his two years in New York.
Afcon monkey
Add the 1997 league title with KCC and Sekagya has no equal at the highest level in club football; the defender having played in Africa, Europe and the Americas – winning trophies in four continents.
The late Magid Musisi, who led SC Villa to league titles, the final of the Caf Champions 23 years ago, plus scored 18 goals in 64 games during his two seasons with Rennes in France, is the closest to high level individual success but Sekagya’s titles and sheer professionalism give him the edge.
Yet both cannot wash away the stain of failing to deliver the Afcon Holy Grail. Subsequently, the duo’s international success pales in comparison when you mention legends Phillip Omondi (RIP), Jimmy Kirunda, and Tom Lwanga among others; the last crop to feature at the Nations Cup in 1978.
Sekagya admitted the pain as much in a June, 2012 interview with Daily Monitor after he retired from international football. Uganda’s goalless draw with Kenya had just ended yet another dream of playing at the Nations Cup for the first time in three decades.
Hope rings eternal
“It remains the biggest disappointment, Kenya,” he said of the game where victory would have ended a 34-year-wait, “It was our best chance and we were sure we would qualify. May be it was God’s plan and we accept that.
“And that we are retiring when we haven’t taken Uganda to the Nations Cup will forever hurt but we hope the team we have left behind will one day make it.” The wait continues to the 2017 edition.
But the news from New York that Sekagya has been offered a backroom coaching role, where the club will take care of all his course and badges expenses, is as refreshing as the player’s demeanor.
There is no doubt that he will become a better coach by the day given his leadership skills, trust earned, and facilities at the club. I’m not one of those vouching for Sekagya to be handed the Cranes job in the immediate future. But one for the future is a quality bet.
And what better way it would be to end the pain of failure as an international by leading Uganda to the Nations Cup – as Cranes coach!