Following his sensational hattrick against Onduparaka last week, KCCA FC’s new-kid-on-the-block Allan Okello will be the man in the limelight when the Uganda Premier League champions visit The Saints in Mwererwe this evening, reports JOHN VIANNEY NSIMBE.
Allan Okello’s debut hat-trick last weekend in KCCA’s 7-0 whitewash of Onduparaka FC at the Phillip Omondi stadium in Lugogo was the revenge of the sweetest kind. In the corresponding fixture last October, KCCA lost 1-2.
Similarly, KCCA lost 1-2 to The Saints last season. That is the kind of statistic KCCA will hope does not play out again, especially at this moment of the Okello wave.
The 18-year-old forward-cum-midfielder excited a host of fans with his exquisite display a week ago. With two assists to supplement his clinical finishing, Okello looked the gem expected to change the fortunes of KCCA in their chase for a twelfth league title. KCCA manager Mike Mutebi said his team has been creating so many scoring chances, yet converting few.
But with the graduation of Okello to the senior side, Mutebi expects a more potent attack since the sample size of potential goal-scorers has widened.
Okello was voted the Most Valuable Player at the Copa Coca-Cola schools football championship last year after he inspired Kibuli SS to the title. And now, with the consideration that he is the first teenager to score three goals on his bow in the top-flight league, his main aim is to help KCCA defend their league title.
For coach Moses Basena, ensuring that The Saints’ UPL status is maintained come the end of the season, remains paramount. Basena’s side has conceded six goals in its last two fixtures, including a Uganda Cup 1-4 humiliation at the hands of Police FC.
But Basena remains positive despite the good form KCCA are in. He said it will not be about Okello alone. “I hope the magnitude of our opponent lifts my team.”
Today’s match is also crucial for KCCA to gauge themselves ahead of their continental engagement with South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns next weekend.
KCCA travel to Pretoria for the Caf Champions League match set for the weekend of March 10 to 12. In the other UPL game today, Vipers SC, Uganda’s Caf Confederation Cup representatives, are away to Bul FC at Kakindu stadium in Jinja.
Vipers beat Bul 1-0 in the first-round match at Nakivubo stadium last October. The former league champions, who face South Africa’s Platinum Stars on the continent next weekend, have not scored in the last games.
UGANDA PREMIER LEAGUE
Friday @4pm:
The Saints v KCCA
Bul v Vipers
Saturday@4pm:
Proline v SC Villa
Sadolin v Bright Stars
jovi@observer.ug
