Micho’s sacking draws mixed reactions

AFTER RWANDA Football body, Ferwafa terminated Amavubi head coach Milutin Micho Sredojevic contract, Times Sport reached out to different football personalities to get their views. The Serb who took over from Ghanaian flop Sellas Tetteh in November 2011 after edging out the likes of Stephen Keshi (Super Eagles head coach) and former coach Ratomir Djukovic to the post was fired due to Amavubi’s poor performances in both Africa and World Cup qualifiers. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Culture, Edward Kalisa said, “Micho didn’t understand the vision and policy of using young players and never achieved what we agreed with him. After doing an evaluation, he had to be sacked.” The AS Kigali coach, Andrew ‘Casa’ Gasambungo noted that if Micho was sacked based on results, it is okay. However, he added that the country needs to have a long term development plan. “Even if you have many young players, the best coach in the world like Jose Mourinho can’t do anything to help our national team realise its targets.” The veteran tactician Aloys Kanamugire had reservations about the sacking. “I don’t see why they sacked him, because none can help us to qualify for the World Cup qualifiers by now. They would have left him to see the end of his contract just like other past coaches.” The Amavubi fan club chairman Claude Muhawenimana said that Micho was a good coach, but he missed the crucial details of helping the national team record consistent results. “It could have been better for him to resign earlier than to wait for his bosses to do so because he had failed to deliver completely,” said the Rayon Sport fan. One of the famous radio sport journalist who works at Radio One, Regis Muramira said Micho’s sacking was long overdue. “He was supposed to have been sacked a few months ago because he had not done anything for our country. It is a shame to find Rwanda employing such national coaches who don’t have any sort of experience at national level.” “We need experienced coaches who can build our national team for the good of our country’s football,” added Muramira. Jean de Dieu Dukuze, sports journalist with Radio 10 said, “I am not suprised with the Micho’s sacking. Based on his performance, he was good to go,” A football commentator Claver Kazungu said that Rwanda needs to employ serious and good coaches. “We need a coach who has Africa Nations Cup experience at least. From day one when they signed Micho, I never agreed with the decision which was taken. Micho was here to build his CV and Amavubi needs a coach who already has a tangible CV.”