Thursday, August 29
Kyetume FC Vs SC Villa – 8:00PM
New SC Villa Coach Edward Kaziba is positive that his side will compete this season despite few challenges ahead of their opener with Kyetume FC.
The game between Kyetume FC and SC Villa at Mandela National Stadium on Thursday night will set the tone for the 2019/20 Uganda Premier League season.
Kaziba, assisted by Ibrahim Kirya, conducted the team’s last training at a partly demolished Villa park in Nsambya on Wednesday morning.
He said that he is hard done by the fact that his side has not got a chance to train under floodlights as their opener will be played at Namboole in the night.
Kaziba also showed a concern of whether all the players will be allowed by the FUFA Licensing committee to play.
Headlining on the importance of the league opener, Kaziba said:
“Its very important to start the league with victory because it will give us a picture of where we will stand the whole season.
“The only thing I pray is that all our players qualify because there are lots of bureaucracy in player licensing. If all the players are there, am sure of the win.”
Kaziba added:
“We have been preparing very well, we played a couple of games in preseason and we are ready for the kickoff. We are playing under floodlights although we didn’t get a chance to train under floodlights because of the protocol of Namboole.”
This will be Kaziba’s first competitive game as Villa coach since appointment. He replaced Douglas Bamweyana who parted ways with the team towards the end of last season and has consequently joined Maroons.
Kaziba has been at Villa for barely a month, but he feels he has done enough to lead his team past Kyetume FC on Thursday.
“I don’t need to have been here for a year, we have played some good friendly matches, and my assessment is that these are good players though we still have to improve on our defense.
“We are not planning to take the cup but we want to stand in a good position, like inside the top five at the end of the season.”
SC Villa will rely on their core of last season that include new captain Asuman Alishe, goal poacher Bashir Mutanda, Charles Lwanga, Derrick Ndahiro among others.
