KCCA FC are optimistic about using the home advantage to beat El-Masry comfortably when they take on the Egyptian side in the Caf Confederation Cup (CCC) round of 32 tomorrow, reports JOHN VIANNEY NSIMBE.
KCCA FC were far from convincing in their 2-1 win over Bright Stars on Tuesday in the Uganda Premier League but lead striker Geoffrey Sserunkuma says they will be a different story when they take on El-Masry in the Caf Confederations Cup first leg match tomorrow.
“We acknowledge that we have not been playing well. We have been slow in closing down spaces, to stop our opponents from playing. We have also not possessed the ball as well as we have done in the past, let alone created the scoring chances,” Sserunkuma, who scored one of KCCA’s goals against Bright Stars, said.
Sserunkuma, who has scored four goals in his last four continental games, is a man in form. And the 33-year-old wants to lift KCCA into the money-spinning bracket of the Caf Confederation Cup.
His 22-goal tally so far in all competitions, is enough proof that he has the ammunition to shoot down El-Masry. The Cranes forward attributed this to hard work. After falling on hard times, following the non-renewal of his contract at Bloemfontein Celtics and later Vasco Da Gama in South Africa, he returned home in 2013 to play for Sports Club Victoria University.
Yet, Sserunkuma scored less than ten goals there, a reason he left to join newly promoted Lweza FC for the 2014/2015 season. His stock appeared to be falling, as the four league goals he scored in his first season showed.
But he followed that up with seven league goals, including a late equalizer against KCCA in the 2015/2016 season. He nearly derailed KCCA’s charge to the title, although it turned out to pave his way back to his former team, that he played for between 2004 and 2006.
After a desperate time, in which Sserunkuma almost quit football, he is a shoo-in to be the MVP of the UPL this season. This is a crown held by his former team-mate Joseph Ochaya, who recently left for Zambian club Lusaka Dynamos. But Sserunkuma said individual awards do not preoccupy him.
The greater good for the team is all he is focusing on: “I had set myself a target to score at least 15 league goals, which I have done. But now I want to win the league, and have an impact on the continent.”
Continental ambitions is what Al-Masry coach Hossam Hassan said his team harbours upon arrival at Entebbe on Wednesday. This leaves KCCA’s work cut out, although their manager Mike Mutebi is unfazed: “We are confident of beating Al-Masry.”
The farthest Al-Masry has been on the continent is the semi-finals of the Caf Cup Winners Cup in 1999 and the Caf Confederation Cup in 2002. This year, in the preliminary round, Al-Masry eliminated Nigeria’s Ifeanyi Ubah 3-0 on spot-kicks after their tie ended one-all on aggregate.
In the previous round, despite losing the first leg 0-2 to Malian side Djoliba, Al-Masry continued in this competition following Fifa’s decision to suspend the Mali Football Association before the return leg.
In the Egyptian Premier League, Al-Masry are third on the log, 12 points behind Al-Ahly with 22 games played. They have scored 38 goals but conceded 25, an indication that they are not so solid at the back. That should encourage KCCA provided they too overcome their recent languid performances.
jovi@observer.ug