Uganda Premier League (Saturday, 6th February 2021)
Vipers Sports Club Vs MYDA – At St Mary’s Stadium (3:00 PM)
Match Officials:
- Referee: Alex Muhabi
- Assistant Referee 1: Ahmed Kakembo
- Assistant Referee 2: Charles Zziwa
- Fourth official: Muzamiru Waiswa
- Referee Assessor: Brian Miiro Nsubuga
Vipers Sports Club will play the first of their two re-scheduled matches in the 2020-21 Uganda Premier League against newly promoted Malaba Youth Development Association (MYDA) on Saturday, 6th February 2021 at the St Mary’s Stadium, Kitende.
The game had been scheduled for match day one of the season but was pushed ahead because Vipers was still committed in the CAF Champions League group stage engagements against Sudan’s Al Hilal.
The match will be the first premier league match in the year 2021 since the league had taken a break on 20th December 2020 to allow preparations for the Uganda Cranes in the CHAN 2020 finals that winds down in Cameroon on Sunday, 7th February 2021 (defending champions Morocco play Guinea).
Coming to this game, Vipers is currently 8th on the 16 team log with 7 points (two wins and a draw) whilst MYDA, a Tororo based entity is 14th with just a single draw in four matches played thus far.
Vipers beat Busoga United 5-3 in the last game played away at the FUFA Technical Centre, Njeru while MYDA recorded a 3 all draw with Mbarara City during their last game at the King George IV stadium in Tororo.
The Venoms’ head coach Fred Kajoba Kisitu is expected to officially introduce the January capture Yunus Sentamu at a time he will miss two players away on national team duty; Bobosi Byaruhanga and Azizi Kayondo who are with the Uganda U-20 national team in Tanzania.
Kajoba has expressed readiness to play the first re-scheduled game prior to Tuesday’s tricky away contest against Express at the Betway Muteesa II Wankulukuku Stadium in Kabowa.
“We knew that the league resumption would prop up at any time depending on the national team performance in the Chan tourney so we kept training. We have worked on our weaknesses and we are ready to go” Kajoba stated.
This game will also come too early for Milton Karisa who picked an injury during Uganda Cranes’ CHAN 2020 expedition in Cameroon.
Besides Sentamu, Vipers has a wide variety of players ready for service as goalkeeper Fabian Mutombora, captain Halid Lwaliwa, Paul Willa, David Bagoole, Jamil Kalisa, Shaban Muhammed, Paul Mucureezi, Bashir Asiku, Abraham Ndugwa, Geofrey Wasswa, among others.
Team MYDA is under Abdul-Samadu Musafiri as head coach and continues to seek for their first victory since attaining promotion to the top tier league last season.
In Ibra Nsiimbe, the team’s talisman (he has 5 goals), MYDA has a proven goal scorer who needs the right chemistry with teammates to make things happen and register a stunning result at the usually intimidating St Mary’s.
Other MYDA players available include Eric Mutebi, Amos Etoju, Yubu Bogere, Waiswa Kasango, newly acquired Paul Musamali and others.
The club has however lost defender Yakubu Ramathan and midfielder Isaac Doka Mweru in the January window to Onduparaka and Kenyan side Western Stima respectively.
The match will be handled by FIFA Referee Alex Muhabi. Muhabi will be assisted by Ahmed Kakembo and Charles Zziwa as the first and second assistant referees respectively.
Muzamiru Waiswa is the fourth official as retired FIFA Referee Brian Miiro Nsubuga continues to make a mark as referee’s assessor.
The contest remains a closed day affair because of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.
