Prime
Libyans push KCCA to the ledge
KCCA coach Sergio Tranguil will need to win by at least two goals to stay in the Caf Confederation Cup. PHOTO/EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
Goalkeeper Derrick Ochan was at fault for two of the goals and the Portuguese coach will be forces to think of gra ting his deputy Anthony Emojong a starting berth in the return leg.
Sergio Traguil's KCCA will have to feed their bomb with sparks at the St. Mary's Stadium in Kitende if they are to progress to the Caf Confederation Cup group stages.
At the Stade Olympique De Rage-Tunis, Libyan hosts Abu Salem put one foot into the next stage with a commanding 3-1 win on Sunday in Tunisia.
Not even the floods ravaging the late Muammar Gaddafi's nation at the moment could calm down Abu Salem's ruthlessness and determination to overcome the KCCA hurdle.
Substitute Abu Mayanja, on for ineffective Usama Arafat, reduced the deficit with a clean finish leaving KCCA with a heavy task of overturning a 2-0 cushion in five days.
That a Ugandan club was mauled in in North Africa is not news but Traguil's team took the punishment lying down.
With the visitors backline of Emilson Gonzaga, Bruno Adilson Herbert Achai and Mustafa Mujjuzi looking awful and unsettled the latter's red card only eased the job for Abu Salem.
Goalkeeper Derrick Ochan was at fault for two of the goals and the Portuguese coach will be forces to think of gra ting his deputy Anthony Emojong a starting berth in the return leg.
At the grand stage, budding midfielders Saidi Mayanja and Faizal Ainebyona alongside Angolan Silva Gui couldn't deliver for KCCA which ultimately points at nascent nature of Traguil's heralded rebuild.
When his first choice attacking trident of Etienne Katenga, Usama and Muhammad Shaban didn't work out, Traguil turned to Julius Poloto, Mayanja and Hassan Mubiru who only confirmed that the scoring burden still hovers over Lugogo.
Then again, conceding inside 25 minutes and letting in a free kick before half time pointed to KCCA's stagefright and doing insufficient homework about their opponents.
North Africa has been a thorny hunting ground for many Ugandan clubs and that Mayanja strike will have helped keep the game within contest ahead of the Kitende must win affair.
Like Vipers that bowed out at the initial stage of the Caf Champions League at the hands of Botswana's Jwaneng Galaxy, the much hyped foreign legion barely came to their aid at the time of need.
Angolans Gonzaga and Gui continue to flatter to deceive but KCCA lauded Brazilian signings Carlos Vinicius and Joao Gabriel aren't employed at the moment of reckoning.
