Can Mayanja win league for KCCA?

The Uganda Premier League title race has holders Vipers and traditional giants KCCA and SC Villa all perfectly poised for what is turning out to be the most enthralling Championship in years. The three-way race has generated the kind of buzz that can only do the league no harm, writes MARK NAMANYA.

This time last week, SC Villa were riding high on the Uganda Premier League table after a six-match winning streak catapulted the Jogoos to the summit. They were the form team with coach Nelly Jackson Magera the toast of town.

The league leaders could seemingly do no wrong. But a week in sport is a very long time. SC Villa have since lost back-to-back league matches and are looking very wobbly. Despite being table leaders, their annihilation at the hands of rivals KCCA last Saturday ripped their confidence to shreds and the team now look unsure.

Villa remain table leaders but KCCA and Vipers, the two teams pursuing Magera’s side, have multiple games in hand on the Blues. Should they win them, Villa could find themselves in third position with the league matches running out.

SC Villa are by no means out of the race for the title. But they are bruised now and struggling for form. KCCA on the other hand seem to have put their troubles behind them. After Morley Byekwaso resigned on the back of three stalemates in the league and a shock Uganda Cup exit, the Kasasiro Boys hired one of their greatest ever players Jackson Mayanja to steady the ship.

In thrashing SC Villa 4-1 in his first game, Mayanja couldn’t have announced his return to Lugogo in better fashion. The jury is still out on Mayanja in the long term but no one can deny what his appointment will do to the club in the interim.

More often than not, when new coaches assume office the change seems to have a positive effect on a squad and KCCA players will be enjoying a fresh lease of life under Mayanja.

The latter is now well travelled, more experienced and schooled in the dynamics of man management and game tactics, which means today’s Mayanja is a far cry from the individual who handled the club more than a decade ago when he was for all intents and purposes still learning the trade of the dugout.

It can also be argued that KCCA have the relatively easier title run-in between now and the end of the season. On Saturday, SC Villa host Vipers at Wankulukuku in a match whose result will have huge ramifications on the title race. Regardless of
the result, KCCA will be keenly following events at Wankulukuku keenly.

SC Villa have lost two matches in the league and can ill-afford to lose momentum at the business end of the season. Vipers meanwhile have won two of their last three and Alex Isabirye seems to be getting to grips with the squad having inherited a side that had been broken in the short reign of Berto Bianchi.

Every match between now and the end of the season involving SC Villa, KCCA and Vipers will be a showdown of huge importance to fans of all three sides. This is precisely the kind of season that will interest fans, neutrals and sponsors and the television companies screening the Uganda Premier League.

The Championship has reached Squeaky Bum Time, to borrow Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous phrase. There will be twists and turns, shocks, heartbreaks, thrills, spills and nail-biting, nerve-wracking moments between now and the end of May when the league concludes.

Fans of the title-chasing sides simply have to fasten their seat belts for the joy and anxiety ride to determine the destiny of the 2023 Uganda Premier League trophy.

And while the attention and focus will naturally focus on the title race, there is also a high-stakes race to avoid the drop at the bottom of the table. Onduparaka do look dead and buried but Blacks Power, UPDF and Busoga are fighting for their survival in an equally intriguing league contest.

Remaining fixtures

SC VILLA

• Villa v Vipers
• Maroons v Villa
• Villav Blacks Power
• UPDF v Villa
• SC Villa v URA

KCCA

• Gaddafi v KCCA
• KCCA v Ondu
• Express v KCCA
• KCCA v BUL
• Busoga v KCCA
• KCCA v B.Stars

VIPERS

• Villa v Vipers
• Vipers v Gaddafi
• Ondu v Vipers
• Vipers v Express
• BUL v Vipers
• Vipers v Busoga