Prime
Manzoki delivers class
Decisive. Manzoki bagged two goals to kickstart the Robertinho era as Vipers coach to book a place in Sunday’s final. PHOTO/ JOHN BATANUDE
What you need to know:
- Chasing second title. Vipers will appear in their fifth Stanbic Uganda Cup final where they will try to win the knockout competition for the second time after eliminating Police in a largely one-sided encounter in what was Brazilian coach Roberto Oliviera’s first game in charge of the Venoms.
ongelese striker Cesar Manzoki scored two sublime goals in either half to earn Vipers a commanding 2-0 victory over Police in a Stanbic Uganda Cup semifinal clash at the Fufa Njeru Technical Centre yesterday, thus earning his side a shot at winning a second title in the knockout competition.
Vipers, the 2016 champions, appeared fitter of the two teams in Brazilian coach Roberto Oliviera’s first game in charge.
Ironically, they had previously asked for postponement and threatened to withdraw from the tournament when the semi-final draws were initially conducted last month.
But with three weeks of training and with Robertinho at the helm, they appeared the hungrier of the two teams. Police only regrouped last week.
“It was not easy to organise a team to compete within 14 days but it’s good that we have won,” Robertinho observed.
“We’re trying to introduce a new philosophy, which needs a little more time but at least, we can see that what we want to play has started coming out by creating more chances and controlling possession.”
His team’s high press was quickly rewarded when they took the lead on 21 minutes through Manzoki.
The Congolese striker caught defender Hassan Mahmood in possession before turning and poking the ball past goalkeeper Tom Ikara at his near post.
By then, he had already failed with two opportunities, first failing to lift the ball over Ikara before the custodian saved with his foot in a one-on-one situation.
The game continued with a similar pattern, with Police often failing to play out of defence.
Manzoki again intercepted a Mahmood pass, while Yunus Sentamu and Milton Karisa also fluffed decent opportunities.
The striker then finally got his brace seven minutes into the second half after good interplay between Karisa and Bobosi Byaruhanga saw the latter set up Manzoki.
This time, he finished confidently with a firm low drive to put the game beyond the cops for whom the veteran Tony Mawejje stood out.
After seeing a low drive kept out by goalkeeper Fabian Mutombora, Mawejje then struck the underside of the crossbar after meeting substitute Mubarak Nsubuga’s cut back.
“We only thank the Almighty Allah for helping us complete the game. There are many excuses I would lay for not playing well but I’m not one to do that,” Police coach Abdallah Mubiru said.
“However, we’ve only trained for four days and then most of the players we used last season have already moved.
“You can see that our goalkeeper [Tom Ikara] was injured early but we had no other option,” Mubiru, who cut a frustrated face, said after the game.
Vipers now await the winner between tomorrow’s other semi-final between Express and Bul.
