Capitulation lessons

Last year’s game between KCCA and then-African champions Mamelodi Sundowns is not septic yet. It feels like a fresh wound.
KCCA lost the first leg of the first round of their Caf Champions League encounter to South African giants 2-1 in Pretoria. But Geoffrey Sserunkuma’s goal on the road gave KCCA more than just hope.
Sserunkuma earned them the lead on 30 minutes in the return leg at Lugogo and they were going through on away goals’ rule only to concede an 81st minute equaliser to Anthony Laffor.
Coach Mike Mutebi’s side threw away what could have been one of the biggest stories in African football for 2017, perhaps at par with Cameroon’s Nations Cup triumph and Egypt’s World Cup qualification after 28 years. Knocking out the champions would have been monumental as KCCA wouldn’t have to wait a whole 365 days to become the first Ugandan side to make the group stages of Africa’s elite club competition.
Mutebi blamed his players’ game interpretation but the fingers were also pointing at him too for some of the decisions he took on March, 18, 2017. Similar cases of ‘so near yet so far’ have defined Ugandan clubs.
It could be a case of here we go again as KCCA host Ethiopia’s St George in the second leg of the first round of the Caf Champions League today. The Ugandan league and Cup champions picked a commendable goalless draw in Addis Ababa 10 days ago. Victory will ensure KCCA break that ceiling.
They are primed to go through, though the capitulations listed here should be timely reminders.

‘Greatest header’
Record league champions Villa ‘boast’ the biggest collapse in history during the 2003 Caf Champions League. Coached by Micho Sredojevic, they won 2-1 at Angola’s AS Aviacao with goals from Vincent Tendwa and Alex Isabirye in the first leg of the first round.
There was nothing to fear with a return leg to come at Namboole. Aviacao broke the deadlock through Helder Vicente in the 90th minute. Still, Villa were advancing on the away goals’ rule.
Catastrophe struck in the third minute of added time when Arsenio Cabungula scored ‘the greatest header in the history of Namboole’ diverting the ball past a static Posnet Omony in the Villa goal from outside the 18-yard box. The Angolans won 2-0 for a 3-2 aggregate score.

Howler
Express had arguably their best team reach the semifinals of the 1995 African Cup of Champions Clubs, today’s Caf Champions League. That ensured a date with South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.
In Johannesburg, Pirates edged the tie 1-0. James Sikhosana’s goal did little to dampen coach Jimmy Muguwa’s mood. There was every reason to believe the Red Eagles would turn it around at Nakivubo.
Andrew Arinaitwe followed the script as Express took the lead on 65 minutes. The minimum the hosts would settle for was an extra 30-minute period in front of a partisan ‘red’ crowd.
Then came an 89th minute disaster. Gavin Lane equalized, running on to a deep free kick as captain Philip Obwiny waved the defensive line to keep a highline.
Kampala sunk as Lane’s tame header squeezed between goalkeeper Abu Kigenyi’s legs for a 2-1 aggregate result to Pirates. Heartbreak. Despair. Desolation. Exit.

Final disappointment
Getting close to winning any competition will raise the expectations of even the biggest underdog. In Uganda’s case, Simba’s 7-4 aggregate loss to Guinea’s Haifa in the 1972 Champions’ League final was anticlimactic.
In the 1991 final of the same competition, Tunisia’ Club Africain battered Villa 7-3. Also, KCCA made it as after as the semifinals of the defunct Caf Cup only to lose 9-1 to Espérance of Tunisia in 1997.