Boo boys in Tucak’s face! It must be the end

When fans start booing their own players, it means the players have not been giving enough on match days, but when the fans turn their anger at the coach, that’s a sign of lack of trust in the individual in charge, and in such a situation, that’s the end of him. For my money, Branko Tucak’s days as Rwanda’s national team head coach are numbered. It’s easy said than done. When you bring in the issue of his lucrative contract and whether his employers can afford to incur the loses [if any], of terminating it, then it becomes another concern altogether. How fans could choose to boo the coach on a day when Amavubi Stars lost without deserving to, against Egypt, a team that has won the African title a record six times, is beyond anyone’s reasoning. But again everything happens for a reason and so there is a reason why fans reacted the way they did in Tucak’s face. In no way am I condoning what the fans did, but the fact remains, they are the biggest stakeholders in the team, even though some people may take their input to the team for granted. Fans booing the coach or their own players is the last thing they want to do at any level but that doesn’t take away the fact that they’re entitled to the right of expression and booing is very much part of the package. I hope Tucak takes it on the chin. On a better note, Amavubi players deserve a pat on the back for their performance in yesterday’s game; you could see how each one of them that stepped on the pitch tried to give whatever they had in stock. It was great to see Jimmy Gatete playing 90 minutes and he again proved his critics wrong. It would be cruel of anyone to single out one player for particular criticism. Of course many may disagree with me on this but from where I was sitting, every Amavubi player gave their all from the way they approached the game, even players least expected to raise to the occasion. Particularly in the first half, Rwanda’s players did very well against the reigning African champions, who came into the match under pressure to deliver or else some people including their coach Hassan Shehata, were to pay [if they failed to win in Kigali]. Amavubi’s win would have spelt the end of Shehata’s reign as coach of the Pharaohs, because it would mean they had no chance of qualifying for next year’s World Cup, so yesterday’s win bought him a lot of votes back at home where swords were out to finish him off. So he survives to live another day, but what happens to our own Tucak, who just two days before a game maintained his stance of guiding Rwanda to the 2010 World Cup by winning the remaining three qualifiers, starting with Egypt? Now he’s gone seven international matches without a win. Just a draw and six defeats! Just when Tucak was about to have a spell of my sympathy after his team’s performance yesterday, despite the result, he again wasted a ‘golden opportunity’ when he shunned the after match press briefing. Enough is enough, the man owes journalist a public apology or his bosses must do it on his behalf just as they’ve always protected him despite his continued despise of the local media. On a day when I was telling whoever cared to listen to me how the arrogant Croat had just made only his second wise decision since taking over the job in April last year. The first shrewd decision he made was to bring Gatete back in the team and showed him love, and the second was his recent one of handing Hamad Ndikumana alias Katauti the team’s leadership. Ndikumana is a very unfortunate man. On a day he returned to lead the team out on the big stage for the first time after taking over the captain’s armband from Olivier Karekezi, he didn’t disappoint, leading by example like a true leader. The three points moved Egypt joint top of Group C with Algeria on seven points although the later have the chance to move to ten if they beat Zambia today in Algiers. Amavubi have managed just a point from a possible 12 and with the next game away to Algeria, any hopes of even playing at the Nations Cup in Angola hang on getting a good result in the last two qualifiers. To have any chance of going to Angola, since South Africa is now out of question, Amavubi need to finish with at least four points and a better goal difference, and hope that Zambia lose heavily all their three game [including today’s]. When the coach loses a game he deserved at least a draw as Tucak did yesterday, the least he expects from the fans is booing him but they did and as always [regardless of yesterday’s booing], he shunned the media as he continues to dig his own grave, which I believe is now ready to take him. Contact:nku78@yahoo.com