Branko Tucak …still counting

Since the departure of Dujkovic Ratomir, controversial though, about four years ago, the Amavubi Stars have seen three permanent and three interim coaches come and ago…and now they have yet another one in the frame of Branko Tucak. Apart from Josip Kuze, whose departure is well documented, (I guess we all know or have heard about Japanese’s JLeague side JEF United and their US$400.000 a year for Kuze), Roger Palmgren and Michael Nees were probably not good enough for the job, I’m afraid. The problem for Palmgren was one, he wasn’t signed by the current regime at Ferwafa, he actually came in a year before his bosses, Gen. Ceaser Kayizari and co. languished power. As for my poor friend Nees, he wasn’t anyone’s choice in the first place as far as those who call the shots in choosing the national team coach in this country is concerned. The temperamental German was an idea out of the existing relationship between Ferwafa and their Germany counterparts, DFB—but my impeccable sources say he was proposed and forced by DFB on Ferwafa! With his lack of any idea as far as coaching at this level as well as his lack of idea in dealing with the people around him was concerned, he was a total failure. And also, his lack of trust for anyone in a country he came to work was to me a sign of how hopeless the man was—for the whole year, he was here, he was staying in a hotel. It’s where he felt safe (from what or who?), he would often tell me. Unluckily, sometimes for him, even the little effort he tried to put into succeeding with the team was always undermined, by almost everybody in local football circles—if I said, his bosses inclusive, I wouldn’t be exaggerating even when I know it could put me in some people’s bad books. His replacement, Kuze reminded me of Ratomir the first day I saw him at a hastily arranged press conference. And surprisingly, I happened to like him there and then…and guess what, he went on to have the best possible start to his rein—unfortunately it was only short-lived. The Ratomir look-alike had just guided Amavubi Stars to a second place finish in last year’s Cecafa Challenge Cup losing on penalties to Sudan in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The former Dynamo Zagreb player and later coach quit five months into the Amavubi job after receiving a massive offer to take over Japanese’s JLeague side, JEF United. Coaches from that part of Europe more often than not become successful or at least build someone with teams they coach and I hope Mr. Tucak can live up to that reputation just as Kuze and Ratomir did before him. Unfortunately or otherwise, Tucak has never managed any national team before, which makes his Amavubi Stars job a whole new experience. One thing that could perhaps and I mean perhaps help his cause for the start, is his past experience working in Africa.Coaches from outside the continent, normally find it hard to get used to working in Africa for various reasons among them being the general environment around him, problems dealing with unprofessional people, the weather also affects them sometimes. But Tucak has worked in Sudan with both their top two clubs, Al Hilal and El Merreikh, which give him ample knowledge about African football but particularly in Sudan. Whether his knowledge about Sudanese football will helps him when he makes his debut against next month when Rwanda plays away to Sudan in the first leg of the African Championship due on May 4 in Khartoum remains another issue for debate. But for now, he has a tough job on his hands, which is to do what his predecessors bar Ratomir, failed to. Palmgren, now coach of South Africa’s Premier League side Thanda Royal Zulu failed to guide Rwanda to CAN 2006 in Tunisia and so did Nees for CAN 2008 in Ghana. What led to Ratomir’s departure, which was a shock to many here and far, will always remain mysterious. Sacking a winning coach is the most infamous decision any boss would consider, unless when the situation really calls for it—but in Ratomir’s case, I don’t think the people who took the verdict gave it a second thought (sober one I mean). Therefore, all eyes will be on Tucak as he seeks to write his name in the history books of Rwandan football just as his compatriot from the same region, Ratomir did or he fails and ends up the same route as Palmgren and Nees. Contact: nku78@yahoo.com