Express FC Out to Pile More Misery on Coach-less Jogoos| Azam Uganda Premier League;

SC Villa Jogoo VS Express FC
Friday 30th Oct- 2015
Nakivubo Stadium.
@ 4:00 PM.
On the final day of the 1994 Ugandan season, Sports Club Villa hosted their Kampala rivals and the reigning champions, Express FC, targeting a victory to leapfrog their opponents and take the title instead.
Few people could have fancied them to do it, primarily because Express had one of the country’s greatest strikers, Fred Tamale, in top form, while Ibrahim Kirya, the hulking centre-forward whom Villa had signed the previous summer, had endured a flop of a campaign, stained by several embarrassing misses.

Kirya had lost his place as a regular starter and there were calls for him to be omitted from the title decider – but Villa’s assistant coach, Paul Hasule, had a better idea and he convinced his superior Timothy Ayiekoh, to roll with it.
Villa however redeployed their striker at centre-back instead with instructions to mark Tamale out of the game and according to sources, Kirya didn’t disappoint as he helped the Jogoos to keep a clean sheet as they snatched a 1-0 victory to win back the title that express had taken from them the previous year.
And from there on, Kirya remained a defender for the rest of his career and now, just over two decades later, he has a chance to steer Villa, Uganda’s record league winners, to resurrect their chances of winning a league title since 2004.
On Friday afternoon at the Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium, Kirya will be in charge of the Jogoos when they host the red hot Express FC in the only Uganda Premier League game of the day.
The former Villa player was handed the responsibility on Wednesday after management decided to relieve head Antonio Flores of his duties. The Spaniard was relegated back to his former assignment of a scouting agent.
In a statement issued by club CEO Ivan Kakembo, Kirya will be assisted by Phillip Obwiny, Phillip Ssozi and Valley Mugwanya under the supervision of technical chairman Frank ‘Video’ Anyau.
‘’Sports Club Villa Jogoo Uganda and Antonio Flores have today reached a mutual understanding to end the latter’s head coach obligations. He remains part of us as a club ambassador and marketer of our players in Europe.
We thank Mr. Flores for the time he has coached SC Villa and wish him he best in his coaching endeavors’’. The statement read in part.
Villa in 13th and has only won two of their last seven league games, three scoring six and conceding seven goals in the process host Express FC that is yet to lose a game in the season.
The red eagles top the 16 team log with 16 points and have won and drawn four apiece of the eight games they have played scoring twelve against five.
The Alex Gita and Wasswa Bbosa coached team hope to carry their current form into a fixture that is expected to put fans of either side on tenterhooks despite the parallel levels form by both teams.
Wasswa Bbosa takes his side to the Joogos off the back of an impressive 4-0 win over BUL FC on Tuesday at Walunkuku while Villa lost 2-1 against Soana FC at Kavumba on the same day.
Last season SC Villa Jogoo was awarded three points and three goals for each of the two games that were aborted due to fans’ violence.
According to the league organizers, Express FC fans were found to be guilty of starting up the violence on both occasions.

However, history shows that violence stems from the clashes between the two clubs in the 1990s, especially the tit-for-tat fighting and corruption that followed for many years after the 1994 match, with the nadir not being reached until 2003, when Villa won the league thanks to a 22-1 win over Akol FC, who turned up with only nine players following assorted threats, bribes and counter-bribes from a variety of sources.
It is believed that the events of that year may have been the root cause of many Ugandans shunning away from local league football.
HEAD TO HEAD (LEAGUE)
–

03-04-2013 FT SC Villa
0 : 2
Express FC

16-11-2012 FT Express FC
0 : 1
SC Villa

25-02-2012 FT Express FC
0 : 0
SC Villa

11-11-2011 FT SC Villa
0 : 2
Express FC

01-06-2011 FT SC Villa
0 : 0
Express FC

14-01-2011 FT Express FC
0 : 1
SC Villa

NB The two successive boardroom points not inclusive.

Vicent Kakooza