KCCA, Proline in decent place ahead of return legs
Tenacious. Bright Anukani grew his profile further by scoring Proline’s first-ever goal away in continental engagements away at AS Kigali on Saturday. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
- For his opposite, coach Eric Nshiyimana, the disappointment was clear.
Two hundred and seventy minutes of football apiece and KCCA and Proline are still – with great honour - ably flying the black, yellow and red flag across the continent.
In that duration, the only scary blight came in KCCA’s 3-2 away Caf Champions League defeat to African Stars in Namibia; but even then, manager Mike Mutebi’s men cleaned the mess in Kampala to progress 4-3 on aggregate to the ongoing round.
Proline themselves did not have much to worry about in Malawi against Masters Security Services as Ivan Bogere’s first leg hat-trick in Kampala had taken care of the business in that Caf Confederation Cup tie.
Now, both Uganda’s representatives are just 90 minutes away from another great step, with KCCA potentially making a second Champions League group stage and Proline - the Confederation Cup play-offs at their very first time of asking. This after both teams pulled off some decent away results in their first legs of their respective competitions.
KCCA improved on their last visit to Angola, when they lost 2-1 to Premeiro de Agosto in 2017, with a goalless draw at Petro de Luanda at the weekend, and Proline got a priceless away goal in the 1-1 draw with AS Kigali in the Rwandan capital.
Bright Anukani’s goal moments into the second half had looked to earn Proline a historic away win for a team playing just their second away game on the continent but a late penalty scored by another Ugandan, Farouk Ssentongo, three minutes from full time cut short the celebrations.
With that, a goalless draw in two-weeks’ time at Star Times Stadium would see Proline further script more history for themselves on the continent as they will have qualified for the last stage before the money brackets.
Proline coach Matia Lule had gone for “a positive result” in Kigali for them to carry something to the return leg in Kampala. They got exactly that.
For his opposite, coach Eric Nshiyimana, the disappointment was clear. “We dominated the second half and had many chances to score but were all wasted. This puts us in a bad position going into the second leg.”
In Luanda, while a goalless scoreline leaves the tie delicately poised as any score draw in Kampala would see Petro de Luanda progress ahead of KCCA on away goals rule, the Ugandans were a better preposition than their last visit there when they lost to Premeiro de Agosto.
Going by their record at Lugogo, where the only dropped points on the continent remain the 1-1 draw with Orlando Pirates in 2017, they will fancy themselves to progress with any win.
