Proline skipper says they can now dream

It was never going to be a walk in the park at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe Malawi on Saturday, but to be honest, Proline had – to their big credit – brilliantly done most of the work in Kampala in this Caf Confederation Cup engagement.

And even when the Stanbic Uganda Cup winners missed some good goal scoring opportunities in a game of struggle in the first half and improvement in the second, the 3-0 in Kampala was enough for Proline to progress to the next round with the same scoreline aggregate over Masters Security Services.

“We struggled in the first half but we improved in the second,” said Matia Lule, who was taking charge of his first game as Proline coach since replacing Shafiq Bisaso , who left for further studies in Europe, a week ago.

Priceless experience
“But of course the area of concern is that we missed many chances which we should have converted. However, I’m pleased for progressing. Now we have to go back home and strategize for the next opponents.”
But to his captain Noordin Bunjo, there were a lot of positives from the this goalless match in Lilongwe
“Being an away match, I think we played well and according to instructions. I think this experience will help us in the next round. Now we believe we can go far.”

The 16 winners of this preliminary round advance to the play-off stage, where they will be joined by as many losers of the Champions League initial round.
Now, Bunjo and Lule will hope Ivan Bogere, who scored Proline’s and his first goal and maiden hat-trick on their continental debut for that massive win in Kampala a fortnight ago wears his shooting boots again as they next head to Kigali.

The 3-0 aggregate victory means Proline will now face Rwanda’s Association Sportive (AS) De Kigali, who eliminated Tanzania’s Kinondoni Municipal Council (KMC), in the play-off round.
KCCA late show
The Kigali trip will also have been welcomed by Fufa, who committed to taking care of air tickets for both Uganda’s representatives for as long as they stay in their respective continental competitions.

Other Ugandan representatives, KCCA, struck twice in the last 10 minutes through a Mustafa Kizza free kick and an Allan Okello drive to progress past African Stars of Malawi 4-3 on aggregate.

Manager Mike Mutebi’s KCCA, the Ugandan champions, will now face the winners between Angola’s Atlético Petróleos de Luanda and Matlama of Lesotho, who played yesterday, in the final round before the Caf Champions League group stage.

The 16 losers of the next Champions League stage will enter the Confederation Cup play-off round.

Caf Champions League

Friday result
KCCA 2-0 African Stars
KCCA advance 4-3 on aggregate
Next round
KCCA vs Atlético Petróleos de Luanda/Matlama
First legs: Sept 13-15
Second legs: Sept 27-29

Caf Champions CUP
Saturday result
Masters Security 0-0 Proline
Proline advance 3-0 on aggregate
Next round
Proline vs AS Kigali
First legs: Sept 13-15
Second legs: Sept 27-29

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