Following their recent success on the domestic scene, Uganda’s 2022/23 league champions and cup winners Vipers SC eyes their eyes on conquering Africa where they miserably failed on the last attempt.
Last season, Vipers scored only one goal and a meagre two points in the CAF Champions League group stage’s four six games. The Venoms, as Vipers are nicknamed, will need to run some pre-season changes in the squad to perform better.
Once Vipers clinched arguably their most dramatic League Championship on May, 28, the final day of the StarTimes Uganda Premier League season, the writing was on the wall for them to secure their first ever double.
The club had never finished the season as a Ssalongo, which was a feat SC Villa, Express and KCCA had done in their glory years.
There was a feeling that for Vipers to finally claim a position on the table of men in Ugandan football, the Venoms had to do the League and Cup double.
On June 3, Vipers duly ticked that box thanks to a Milton Karisa header that handed them a 1-0 victory over Police in the final at John Akii-Bua stadium in Lira.
Few can doubt that despite a season of ups and downs, Vipers have earned the right to be called the strongest in the country.
They negotiated three post-match penalty shoot-outs in the rounds of 64, 32 and 16 and on all occasions teetered on the brink of elimination. But somehow, they held their nerves firm and prevailed.
Vipers’ captain Milton Karisa (left) in action against Police FC last seasonThey successfully defended the league title, albeit via URA’s 1-0 victory over SC Villa at Wankulukuku, and will be returning to the preliminary stages of the Caf Champions League where they will be seeking to do better than last season.
Admittedly, Vipers knocked out TP Mazembe on spot-kicks to progress to the group stage for the first time.
But once they got there, they received a baptism of fire from the continent’s seasoned teams in Raja Casablanca (of Algeria), Tanzania giants, Simba SC and Horoya AC of Guinea Conakry.
It was a brutal learning experience for a Vipers side that was helped by the mid-season change of coaches.
Roberto Oliveira’s replacement Beto Bianchi was an unmitigated disaster and it is a credit to Alex Isabirye that he steadied a ship that had appeared rudderless prior to his appointment.
It remains to be seen when the team’s proprietor Lawrence Mulindwa will entrust Isabirye with the task of managing Vipers on the continent.
The managerial skill-set in Africa requires a technical detail that Isabirye may not possess, yet Mulindwa on the other hand wouldn’t want to rock the boat having seen how Isabirye restored confidence and belief in a team whose spine had appeared broken.
Those are some of the tough questions that Vipers must mull over in the off-season as they prepare to compete on the continent again.
The great SC Villa team of the early 90s did reach back-to-back continental finals while Express and KCCA were semi-finalists in 1995 and 1995 respectively.
Those are the standards that Vipers would want to emulate, especially in today’s era where the group stages of the continent’s club competitions are rewarding financially.
The club is yet to find a fitting replacement for former striker Cesar Lobi Manzoki, the DRC-born forward who was traded to China last year. That is department where coach Isabirye will want to invest in if Vipers are to do better on the continent.