Kasozi’s attitude on spot as player heads southwards

Cranes midfielder Nicholas Kasozi arrived at KCCA in 2018 amidst pomp, with lofty expectations but leaves a dejected player. What seemed like a coup from bitter rivals SC Villa has turned out to be a regrettable marriage that has seen the player struggle to fit in the first team, visit the surgeon’s table regularly and go AWOL (absent without leave) for months.

KCCA manager Mike Mutebi’s affection for Kasozi dwindled each day and by March this year he had lost contact of the player - who had reportedly run back to Masaka.

“There are players who are not used to competition but KCCA is a big club where each position has three players competing so he could have chickened out,” Mutebi told Daily Monitor. 

Now at Kyetume, Kasozi previously got a chance to play with the national team at the Cecafa tourney in December. “Even when we played him in two matches, he looked rusty because he lacked game time at KCCA,” Uganda Cranes coach Abdallah Mubiru reasoned.

He added; “There are players that want to be treated with soft hands and may not perform in harsh environment. That is Kasozi. His mental attitude was down at KCCA and never felt appreciated like it was at Villa,” added Mubiru whose Police side reportedly wanted to take on the player. 

Mubiru says Kasozi, blessed with a good workrate and game reading abilities, can still blossom into a great player at lowly Kyetume, handled by Cranes assistant coach Livingstone Mbabazi. 
 
Little nothings
 Mbarara City coach Brian Ssenyondo who unearthed Kasozi at Synergy Academy believes his progress was halted the moment moneybags KCCA came calling.

“Since this boy (Kasozi) got used to some good money, he became excited about everything. At Synergy, we did more of football education and other areas of life. But some boys just choose to disappoint us,” he said.
Kasozi’s stiff competition included Sadam Juma, Muzamir Mutyaba, Gift Ali, Lawrence Bukenya and Keziron Kizito.