Huge projection, pessimism from latest attraction of Ugandan players to MLS

Over the years, an array of Ugandan football players have tried their luck in the Major League Soccer (MLS) in the US, with some establishing their names in the top division’s folklore.
Players like Ibrahim Sekagya, Mike Azira and Sulaiman Tenywa have somewhat changed fortunes of the clubs they played for, creating faint hope that the MLS can be an ideal destination for Ugandan talent.
However, for every Sekagya and Tenywa, we have been served with curious cases of Mustapha Kizza, Henry Kalungi and Brian Umony who showed loads of potential but fell short for one reason or the other.

Back in the late 1990s, Ugandan soccer witnessed an exodus of players to the US through university scholarships and the trend was accepted to brew standout national team players and ultimate professionals. The core of the 1999 under-23 Kobs team jumped on the ship immediately with Aggrey Bigala, Geoffrey Bukohore and Tenywa heading to the States.
Around that time, Mujib Kasule, Andrew Jjombwe, Arthur Byansima, David Obua and the ilk followed suit but a few years later there was yet to be a US draft graduate to genuinely captivate the Uganda Cranes faithful apart from Tenywa and Obua.

Tough road
For starters, the US professional soccer divisions are punctuated with the Major League Soccer (MLS) at the top, then the USL Championship (USLC), USL League One (USL1) and lastly the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA).
The latest batch of players to head to North America include Musa Ramathan, Aziz Kayondo, Steven Sserwadda and Edward Kizza. Not too long ago, Mustafa Kizza was accommodated into those tiers with varying levels of expectations.
In between the first generation of exports and now, there was the moderate group of Azira, Umony and Kalungi that tried to open the doors wide for the current crop.

According to Abdul Sseruyange, a Ugandan coach who has attained coaching badges in the US, there is a general view that Africans and Ugandans in particular, have to be workaholics to succeed in the soccer structure across the ocean.
“They are required to put up a spirited performance if given playing time but the US employers know these players still lack elements of professionalism and game intelligence,” Sseruyange, who manages Terra Nova, an academy side, says.  “They value players who have garnered remarkable experience with their respective national teams,” he adds.

His football qualifications include; Caf License B, Advanced Soccer Diploma (US), Sports Psychology and Individual Mental Skills (US), Level 1 Goalkeeping Online Diploma (US), National Diploma, National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Soccer Management and Development Diploma (US), Level 2 Coaching Diploma(US) among others. Sseruyange has overseen the progression of midfielder Mubarak Kasule from a struggling lad at Express into a Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Management minoring sports science graduate (achieved at Cincinnati University) and promising player at Dayton Dutch Lions – a team that plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid.

He is convinced that former KCCA defender Ramathan (on-loan from Europe at Cincinnati), Kayondo (on-loan at Salt Lake) and Sserwadda (at New York Red Bulls) will gain game intelligence now as they have been drafted into the MLS pro first and MLS next pro programs and not thrown in at the deep end as it was for Kizza (Mustafa) at Montreal Impact.

“My decade-long association with American football informs me that you can’t swap the Uganda Premier League for MLS and expect to thrive.
“Luckily for Sserwadda, he is under renowned coach Gary Lewis, someone I trust can develop young players.
“Ramathan will also benefit from the tutelage of coach Tyron Marshal at Cincinnati II.
“Kayondo is also under the right wraps with Real Monarchs, the feeder team under Salt Lake that will accord him a chance to understand the game,” he opines.

Sseruyange advises prospective players to be ready to undergo a tight education versus soccer challenge that grants university students an easier route to professional growth.
“They use a draft system like the NBA that helps them follow player progress. That said, the US and Canada change three weather patterns and it will be hard for someone who has been in a tropical climate. The cold weather impacts performance.
“The culture and time keeping dilemma plus diet changes affects most African players but they can adapt.” 

Top universities 
Proline director Mujib Kasule a.k.a Jiba joined the American soccer system through a scholarship program that American universities have for athletes from around the world in the late-90s. He reveals that their universities have different levels of leagues depending on the size of the university. From there, MLS recruits from these top universities.
“American football is very physical and fast. Americans are not so talented so they depend on learning, science and technology to get a competitive advantage. Players need to be ready to adapt to this way of working,” Jiba, now a coaching instructor here and director at Proline Soccer Academy, says.

Yet Jiba, like his erstwhile colleagues that arrived early in the US didn’t dwell long with playing careers before joining the lucrative business world.
“When you are educated and top companies are willing to employ you, it becomes easy to leave football especially if your country is not following you to motivate you to stay in football,” he adds. The former KCCA striker faults the federation’s modus operandi in getting the players ready for the big challenge.

“As a country, we have not established a particular model that is uniform to all. Something we need to do urgently,” he argues.
“The game in Uganda was not giving hope and security for the future.” Consequently, players like Arthur Byansima, Wilber Musika, Aggrey Bigala, Jjombwe and Hussein Ssali turned away from football for better careers.
Jiba, who graduated in business from the US, played for Alabama A&M university before he returned home “to be with my family and take care of my parents” in 2003.

Door still shut
From a journalism background, you get it from season football commentator Ruben Luyombo that the journey is still a lengthy one.
“The problem is that we don’t see many direct buys from Uganda to the US. Umony was a loan deal from SuperSport (South Africa). Sekagya was from the New York Red Bull sister club in Austria and because he had good links with the club owners, they took him along at their new project in the US,” Luyombo explains.

Adding that; “There have only been two direct purchases from Uganda - Kizza and Sserwadda (both from KCCA).” He calls for Sekagya and Azira, who are grounded in the nitty gritty of US soccer, to continue guiding the few players that sail across the pond.
On why may fail to make the grade, Luyombo believes it is down to the complex nature of one getting drafted and picked by one of teams if you were from college, it was like the NBA style.

“Since soccer was/is not such a popular sport in the US, they decided to shift to buying already accomplished players and retired stars to give it pomp and TV attraction. That too makes it hard for our student players,” he says.
According to Luyombo, the current crop of players should man up and shore their mental attitude even when faced with adversity or relegated to reserve sides and also seek constant guidance from those who cracked those codes.

Work permit challenge
All said, the transformation from a student to a professional soccer player in the US is a nightmare if you have a student visa.
This largely affected the first crop of players like Robert Ssejjemba, Smokie Byaruhanga, Ahmed Ssenyange, Byansima and Musika who went there as students and were expected back home immediately after school.
“Most opted to stay and work on their Green Card papers (i.e residence documents).“You ought to have a work permit to play in the MLS and that tedious transition goes through the federal system,” Luyombo states.

He says in other cases, gifted players like David Obua were swept off their feet by life outside college and football was seen as getting in the way as any other youth can lose judgement and the only solution was to come back home.
“Obua came back to Express in early 2000s, went to Mauritius, South Africa and Scotland yet he might not have realised his football dream in the US. I would say it was not his destiny,” the veteran journalist says.

Closing gap
Lately, and Luyombo agrees, the MLS is closing in on the gap with the lauded European leagues with players like Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) and Alphonse Davies (Bayern Munich) hitting the mark. Ivan Kakembo, a player intermediary, former CEO at URA and SC Villa and now Fifa Diploma in Club management course graduate, thinks no inroads can be made if Ugandan players don’t adapt to the intensity and passing technique of the US game. “When the (Geoffrey) Buhokores, Bigalas and Kasules played in the lower leagues in the US, it was just growing. 

“Now, they have invested in facilities, attract European heavyweight teams for preseason friendly matches and play a fast and physical game like the English Premier League,” Kakembo, based in the UK, says.  He has been behind the success stories of his brothers - Kalungi (through Winthrop University and at current club Charlotte Independence) and Edward Kizza, a striker at New England Revolution. “Their mentality is simple, receive and pass the ball and make sure you don’t lose it. I’m worried about the size of our stars like Kayondo and Sserwadda because in the US you have to be well built to succeed,” Kakembo, who has connected a couple of players to US scholarships, weighs in.

He points out the issue of nutrition, acclimatisation, obtaining the green card and being drafted into the US system at a younger age as perquisites to a successful stint in the land of fortunes.
“If you’re developed in the US say from 17 years, you have a chance to acquire a green card because if you don’t have it, the three slots are so competitive a mere return for national team you may lose one like it was the case for Tenywa at Chicago Fire back in the day.”
Kakembo hopes to empower more players to join the paid ranks now that he has added the football diploma onto his résumé.

Lonely and homesick
The news that surrounded left fullback Kizza’s axing at Canadian club Montreal Impact centered on a post on his private snapchat about seeing a gay wedding from his hotel room window.
Well to him, it was all about giving his whole, gaining exposure and losing out to fate. “I don’t consider the disparity between UPL and MLS too big but it is mainly about their adorable organisation.

 And maybe how they want to play and the high level but generally it’s the same,” Kizza remarks.
He has found memories of his brief stay in the MLS.
“I shared the dressing room with superstars and world class coaches like Thierry Henry. Montreal was a nice city with many Africans and your performance on the pitch bails you out,” he reminisces.
He was given good company by his well-traveled Kenyan ‘brother’ Victor Wanyama that helped him settle in fast.

“I missed my family. Also, those guys give it a lot of time and you have to respect the time and effort put in training.” Mustafa tips Sserwadda to better his efforts because he is still “young, talented, hungry and features for the national team.”
The Sekagya wings around him is an added bonus that Sserwadda, a deft dribbler with an eye for goal, can count on to make the required grade at New York Red Bull.

“To be honest, Sekagya helped me a lot and showed me my weaknesses. He recommended me to Henry and kept following my performance,” Kizza confesses. 
A similar shoulder being extended to Sserwadda might surely spring the door open, again as the journey to America becomes an unwinding road.  

US-Uganda student players project to return 
The American dream is largely attributed to the indefatigable efforts of Kasule and late Fr. Cornelius Ryan dating way back in the mid 1990s. The late America priest made tremendous inroads while in charge of St Henry’s College Kitovu linking young and talented players back to his homeland. After writing his Senior Six examinations at Kibuli SSS, Jiba as Kasule is fondly referred to by peers, initiated a grand program that saw a couple of student players head to the US to further their studies and soccer career. He too enrolled at Alabama A & M University, studied a business course, and continued to monitor the program even when he finally returned home.

‘‘There are two generations. The older guys and all those that came from Kitovu it was Fr Ryan. The ones from 1999 and especially those attached to Alabama A&M university, it was me (who processed their applications). I was the official recruiter for the University (in Uganda),’’ Kasule, a coach and certified coaches’ trainer, revealed. He has belief that soon the academic exchange program will be revived to enable the current generation also benefit. Other Alabama A & M University graduates like Byasiima, changed jerseys for lucrative ventures and he is now the vice President at Bank of America.

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