Mutyaba expects tough Otoho fight

KAMPALA. When Mike Mutebi added Suleiman Mike Mutyaba to his rich collection of midfielders this season, there were whispers over whether the KCCA manager had not taken gambling a tad too far. Here was a player whose closest claim to active football was futsal; glimpses of his impressive past at Vipers, stints in Sudan and DRC, and Cranes cameos notwithstanding. Mutyaba had been out of competitive topflight football for a couple of years. But this is Mutebi we are talking about. The man – now known for converting his doubters into believers - always gets his way. Okay, most times.

Repaying faith
The forward, Mutyaba, actually struggled to get out of the blocks for KCCA at the start of the season, but has steadily started repaying the faith showed in him by his coach. He has since scored four league goals and another three in the Uganda Cup while starting only four league games and one in the Uganda Cup.
“It has not been easy,” Mutyaba said of his tough journey back to fitness, “Running 10 kilometres every day from Munyonyo to Kajjansi, dieting and training twice a day has brought me this far.” The midfielder admits he struggled at the start of the season because his body was not ready for demands of the competition.
“I was not ready to start playing I guess,” he said, “And lack of match fitness due to the fact that I took long without playing must have caused that. But now I feel great and I want to help my team at every opportunity.” The last opportunity for him and his teammates was a failed test, away in Congo - where KCCA fell 3-0 to Otoho in the first leg play-off of the Caf Confederation Cup. KCCA need a 4-0 victory on Sunday to out-rightly progress to the group stage, while a 3-0 win would take the tie to spot kicks. The Yellow Brigade can look to the 4-0 and 3-0 home victories over Fus Rabat in 2017 and Mtibwa Sugar this year for inspiration.

Otoho are good
The other inspiration comes in form of Uganda Cranes, whose 4-0 victory at Namboole overturned a 3-1 defeat in Brazzaville in 2012 to progress to the next round of the 2013 Afcon qualifiers.
“It does inspire us but honestly the team we played is good. They have very good and experienced players,” said Mutyaba.
“And it’s not gonna be easy for us though we are determined to give our best. We believe that if we play our way and at our best, we shall overturn the tie.” KCCA have been the perennial Ugandan representatives on the continent in the last few years, making the group stages of both the Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup recently. They will have to be extraordinary on Sunday to continue the trend.