UMS’ CAF champions league game on Sunday against AS Vita club, will be an opportunity for Charlemagne Mbongo to make his debut in the dugout as UMS’ head coach.
There is absolutely no shadow of doubt about the coach’s pedigree in the local scene, but far from that, he is going to be the man at the helm in a continental brawl against one of Congo’s best, AS Vita club.
Reporters spoke with the former Colombe of the Dja coach, and he was in high spirits, especially considering the fact that UMS are going into the encounter as a second favorite. Coach Charlemagne Mbongo has accepted the tag of an “underdog” while hinting on the fact that an offset could come into play.
The gaffer said: “we are gathered together in the spirit of a team that is willing to do all to enter the group stage. You know two places were taken from Cameroon – so, today, it is for the Cameroonian public that hopes UMS have a good African campaign so that we can take back our two places that CAF took away from us”.
Talking about what strong point could be used to go far in the competition, the “thinker” – man said, “we all know that As Vita club is a regular in the African competitions and would like to go as far as possible. They are a powerhouse but you know like we always say in Cameroon, nothing is impossible. We have an effective game plan that would put this side in difficulty. The objective of UMS in this first game that we would be playing on home soil is not to lose, and to do everything possible to play the away leg with an advantage”.
“To be honest with you, for a team to go as far as possible in a continental competitions they need to first of all have a sound defensive solidity. It needs that defensively, the team should be able to recover a whole lot of possession. So, we have layed emphasis on the defensive solidity but now we also have a good squad that can put As Vita club in difficulties”.
“We know our opponents. We know that they are used to big competitions”. Coach Charlemagne was absolute livid about questions on if he knew how powerful their opponents were, and he replied this way; “if you insist to ask me this sort of question, it means that we should abandon the game, not show up, register forfeiture, or better still not play”.
“Today in football when you want to play an opponent you cannot go ahead and play without information of the team, it is not possible. We have these indications on our opponents already – that has a couple of Cameroonians in the team and we would, continue to learn more, about the stronger channels of this team for us to stop the them”.
Coach Charlemagne Mbongo would have to repay the faith the management of UMS have shown him thus far, ousting 2019 league 1 winner, Laurent Djam to bring him in. His first job is a continental one, to sail the Mongo based team across the “Mongo”, to the shores of greatness.
AFESEH APONG
