JOHANNESBURG - A lot has changed since 2009, the last time Anthony Laffor was in Kampala to play in the CAF Champions League first round with SuperSport United. The Liberian is now with cross-town rivals Mamelodi Sundowns, has won the league twice, and became an African champion with the Brazilians.
The Ugandan side went through changes of their own, going from being called Kampala City Council to Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).
Those changes make the Brazilians clash with KCCA, at Phillip Omondi Stadium at 3pm South African time, a high-staked match for Sundowns and an opportunity for the Ugandans to set a marker on how far they have progressed in the last eight years.
“It would be a disaster if we were to get eliminated. As the champions, you can’t leave the tournament in the first round. We know very well that our reputation is at stake,” Laffor said.
Sundowns go into this match with a slender 2-1 lead from the first leg. That’s also the same score-line that Matsatsantsa a Pitori lost by in Kampala in 2009. Laffor scored the crucial away goal. But SuperSport failed to make that away goal count. They played to a 1-1 draw in the second leg and they were eliminated in the first round.
The Brazilians will look to do something similar to KCCA to advance to the group stage of the premier club competition in the continent. Reaching the group stage would ease the pressure on the Brazilians as they have failed to win and score in their last three league matches.
“The slump we find ourselves in, we just have to accept it and take ourselves out of it,” Laffor said. “We put ourselves in this situation that every team that plays against us wants to beat us as the league and Champions League winners. There is nothing we can do about it. We can’t blame ourselves or the technical team. If we can get a win in the league, things will be fine.
"At the moment, the situation isn’t that bad in terms of where we are on the log. We have games in hand even though we know those aren’t points. We know how to get the points we need. We are not satisfied with where we are. We can do better and that can only help us improve. This isn’t the first time we are in this situation.”
Sundowns’ opponents are driven to be the first Ugandan club to reach the group stage since the tournament changed it’s format and name, from the African Cup of Champions Clubs, in 1997. No. 1 goalkeeper Benjamin Ochan wants to do well in honour of his father, who passed away recently.
A victory will make it even sweeter, coming against the African champions. And this is not going to change for Sundowns, every team they will face in this tournament will be driven to beat the Kings of Africa.
“The good thing is that we have played them already,” Laffor said. “We watched the video of the first leg. We have an advantage. They need to score and if they open up, we are going to score goals because we are capable of that. It’s just that recently things haven’t been going our way in the league. The Champions League is different though to the PSL. The pressure and the demands are higher, and that brings out the best from us.”