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Questions abound for local club football as Kaddu enjoys his moment in the sun
Author: Robert Madoi is a sports journalist and analyst. PHOTO/FILE/NMG.
What you need to know:
Why do local football exports fail to cut it in the paid ranks?
Since making his second debut at KCCA a few weeks back, Patrick Kaddu has explained little to the public as to why he left the paid ranks in Morocco.
Scoring the goal that took Uganda to Afcon 2019 – and opening the Cranes’ account at the continental showpiece for good measure – meant that unknown quantity is a label that will never be ascribed to Kaddu.
When he swapped the golden yellow hue of KCCA for Berkane’s screaming orange, many observers considered this a test case of the striker’s ability to hold his own at the big time. It did not take the Moroccan outfit long to send Kaddu on loan to Ismaily. His travails grew steadily more threatening when the Egyptian club opted against triggering a buying option valued at $100,000.
If Kaddu needed any indication that the writing was pretty much on the wall, this and another underwhelming spell at Youssoufia Berrechid in Morocco duly provided it.
The relentless forward strikes one as quite brave (especially during aerial duels, which he never shies away from), but bravery can only do as much in the paid ranks.
After falling on lean times in North Africa, Kaddu must have been frightened but clear-eyed about what needed to be done – launch a curious comeback on home soil. Preferably a second debut at his former club.
This would, of course, mean that his failings – and summary redemption – were far from unique. Before him, Milton Karisa – and, more recently, Nelson Senkatuka – blazed the trail. If it can be called so!
After having easily become entangled in the North African mesh, it did not take Kaddu long to hit the ground running in Uganda’s top flight football league. He led the line superbly en route to notching the match winner against KCCA’s rivals and title contenders, URA.
He then ran rings around Mbarara City’s rearguard before his headed assist laid it on a platter for Usama Arafat. It was anything but purely coincidental that the Kasasiro Boys’ attack play petered out after Kaddu went off injured at the breather.
Expect the vastly experienced forward to play a decisive part if KCCA succeed in overhauling the marginal advantage Vipers hold over them atop the league log. Yet the new iteration Kaddu is revelling in poses two questions that are at once simple and perilous: Why do Ugandan footballing exports not quite cut it in the paid ranks?
And, probably more importantly, is our top flight football league so shambolic that rejects who previously teetered on the brink can effortlessly walk on water...barrel-chested?
An answer to either question is certain to leave your average administrator of Ugandan club football with egg on their face.
If it needs to be emphasised, our top flight league is every inch an also-ran. And to compound matters, this appears to be something of a forever status. There is simply no respite. Well, unless we undergo a sea change in the way we go about things.
With best practices (take something as mundane as quality assurance for one!) missing in action, cutting corners has become the order of the day. Little wonder, we keep exporting undercooked products. Can we put in the hard yards for once?
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @robertmadoi
