Should goals be the barometer we use to judge striker Massa?

Striker Massa celebrates his breathtaking second goal against Guinea on Wednesday night. Photo by Eddie Chicco

What you need to know:

Geoffrey Massa’s high quality brace against Guinea, which catapulted Uganda to the summit of its 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualification group, has been a vogue subject around the water coolers and watering holes.

The 2-0 win in a floodlit Mandela National Stadium on Wednesday was the the third match on the bounce that Massa was finding the onion bag after similar feats against Madagascar and Mauritania. The Pretoria University forward now leads the scoring charts in the qualifiers together with Benin’s Stephane Sessegnon, who cannot add to his tally of four after his native country failed to make the group stage.

Individual success must, deny as he may, count for much in Massa’s book. Opportun-ism after all is the lifeblood of a striker, and it sure thrives on some kind of self-centredness. Massa, though, is just slightly different. When he hailed his brace against Benin in 2008 in such an animated manner, you could tell what a goal meant to him. Much-maligned for his legendary poor first touch and profligacy in front of goal, Massa had become fodder for the often unforgiving Ugandan media. He placed a finger before pursed lips to hush his critics. Yet when he failed to get the better of an inspired Arnold Origi in a win-or-bust 2012 Afcon qualifier between Uganda and Kenya, the knives were swiftly pulled out. He needs ten chances to score a goal, critics thundered.

Truth be told, a striker is only as good as the goals they score. The add-ons of running defenders into the ground with a superb work rate — as Massa diligently does — can only do as much. Thankfully, for Massa, he is adding goals to his repertoire, and this is winning him many admirers. This column has always backed him up (not lionised or mythologised as some have done) for his ilk in Ugandan football — strikers who play well with their back facing the goal — is a dying breed. Ugandan football nowadays seems keen on producing strikers who run the channels (think Brian Umony, Yunus Sentamu, Robert Sentongo, etc), and not those with great hold-up play.

Your columnist remembers Massa picking up his first major silverware — a topflight league medal with Police FC after the cops had arrested record winners SC Villa in a shootout (the league was played on a knockout basis in 2005). Massa did score goals in that campaign — seven of them (including a peach against Express FC) to be precise — and was only eclipsed by his fellow striker partner, Martin Muwanga as well as KCC FC’s Geoffrey Serunkuma, both of whom notched eight goals.

The final — the last public appearance that former Cranes and Villa striker, Majid Mu-sisi, made — was a drub affair, and was only settled on penalties (3-1 in favour of Po-lice) after a scoreless draw. Massa, though, put on a running masterclass that left Villa defender and skipper, Andrew Mwesigwa downright tired. Little wonder, Mwesigwa and fellow defender, Godfrey Kateregga, fluffed their penalties in the shootout. It was testa-ment that Massa is much more than goals. Or is he?

Golfing outsider Kitata still toiling to gain acceptance despite his fine talent
Even in victory, reigning Uganda Golf Open main event winner, Willy Deus Kitata, re-mains, well, a poisoned chalice. Kitata has never been the etiquette-obsessed Ugandan gallery’s cup of tea. While several of his shots — like the two-iron on the green that brilliantly attacked the eighteenth hole’s pin on day three of the Open — have brought gasps from the gallery, his perennial inability to carefully cultivate a veneer of refinement has left him contemptible.

On a topsy-turvy final day, Kitata more than wiped out day three leader, Adolf Muhumu-za’s three-stroke lead. The volatile and combustible golfer then took a three-stroke lead of his own to the back nine. He, however, dropped shots at holes 15, 16 and 17 to force a sudden death playoff at Kitante course’s stroke index one — the 448-yard par 4 12th.

When both Kitata and Muhumuza drove from hole 12’s elevated tee, there was no doubt as to who would carry the day. Muhumuza’s dream for a maiden Open title drowned when he found the burn. Conversely, Kitata kept his nerve to win the hole by a stroke, and with it his first Open title after umpteen near misses.

Jeers
It didn’t take long for the cheers to turn into tacit jeers. During his acceptance speech, Kitata didn’t endear himself to everyone when he said: “I am so happy to win this spe-cial 72nd Tusker Malt Uganda Open”… Fair enough.
“Thank you,” he further enthused “to my sponsors, and hats off to my rival Adolf Muhu-muza. He is such a great player, and thanks to all the fans out there who have support-ed me, the public enemy”.

Kitata, the public enemy indeed. A string of repugnant actions have over the years seen Kitata make many enemies. Those close to the golfer blame the demons that have plagued him on his upbringing. They state that rather than being a public enemy; Kitata is his own worst enemy. Or at least his temperament. He wasn’t groomed to showcase a stoical acceptance of suffering. When things are not going his way, he throws toys out of the pram, he puts on the histrionics.

This is what professional golfer, Deo Akope, made of Kitata’s performance in the recently concluded Open: “I was told of a number of incidences he did on the course during his final round, and some were not sportsmanship. Anyway we shall welcome him if he decided to join [the Uganda Professional Golfers’ Association], but he has to change his approach to a number of things…”

Before the Open, Kitata courted controversy when he reacted repulsively to being over-looked for the East Africa Golf Challenge. A sustained spell that saw him play in a host of Pro-ams in Europe denied Kitata the chance of being integrated into Team Uganda. On returning from Germany, Kitata wanted to force his way into the team.

Uganda Golf Union President, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, took exception and duly cracked the whip. Kitata was left — not for the first time — feeling like an outsider. In 2012, he felt like an outsid-er when an embarrassing episode — alleged theft of golf balls — earned him a repri-mand at Uganda Golf Club and ostracism to go with it.

Such has been Kitata’s psyche that his default position has been one of an outsider. Observers say a tough childhood triggered this position. The new Uganda Open cham-pion will have to find a way to overcome this self-defeating streak to erase his outsider tag.

What we now know...
We know that Ugandan basketball — like a farmer — isn’t immune to the vagaries of weather. This as the recent rains pound league basketball across all divisions with fists. How the league would have done with a facility like the Lugogo Arena! We, however, know that the facility is emblazoned with the MTN logo and colour. Using it is a no-no especially since MTN’s biggest rivals, Airtel, bankroll league basketball in Uganda.

We know that this status quo has exasperated basketball fans who took to social media to vent their anger using the hashtag, #BringBackOurCourt. The hashtag’s power, though, has had its limits. It has barely elicited a response from MTN for one.

Thankfully, we know that the storm was weathered in the past weekend and week. Mother nature didn’t pour its fury on the YMCA basketball court in Wandegya. That meant some action for basketball aficionados who watched with untold glee as Riham Warriors launched the mother of all comebacks by rallying to overcome a 14-point deficit and defeat defending champions City Oilers 97-92.

We also know that there was a midweek win for record champions Krishna Falcons who saw off Sharing Youth.
Hopefully the weather won’t leave basketball fans under the weather. We know that the rhyme, “rain, rain, (or is it MTN, MTN?) go away” is figuring heavily on the lips of basketball fans.