Sekagya plans Arsenal defeat

Jul 24, 2007

IBRAHIM Sekagya stands between the Red Bulls goal area and a cluster of world-class strikers when his Austrian outfit engages Premiership giants Arsenal in a cracking friendly today.

By Fred Kaweesi

Today, 10pm
Friendly match

Red Bulls v Arsenal


IBRAHIM Sekagya stands between the Red Bulls goal area and a cluster of world-class strikers when his Austrian outfit engages Premiership giants Arsenal in a cracking friendly today.

Robin van Persie, Eduardo da Silva and Emmanuel Adebayor are bound to lead the Gunners’ three-man attack but must go past the flamboyant Ugandan defender to reap any goals.

A cultured defender who would rather drop his shoulder and feint past the opposing striker, vital tackles, a calm demeanour and quality distribution have punctuated Sekagya’s displays in Austria.

Whoever the opposition, whatever the situation, Sekagya’s concentration has remained consistently high. He has been instrumental in Bulls’ pre-season and league games, which culminated with his debut goal against Vienna on Sunday.
Man for man, Arsenal will certainly look better equipped with their exciting free-flowing game and this is where Sekagya’s long European passing will come to the fore.

An extract from Arsenal’s current squad list reads rather like a “Who’s who?” of the European footballing elite with Jens Lehmann, Philippe Senderos, Kolo Toure, William Gallas, Emmanuel Eboue, Cesc Fabregas, Aleksander Hleb, and Tomas Rosicky also stationed in North London.
The game will offer the Bulls the perfect test just days before they start their UEFA Champions League qualification next week.

A good showing against one of Europe’s best teams, in the match marking the reopening of the Bulls natural-pitch Arena, could be just the tonic for Sekagya’s career in European football.

The plan will thus be for the Bulls to rejuvenate themselves on the specially-installed natural pitch against Wenger’s men, and then to go and gain a Bundesliga win on their usual artificial turf against LASK on Saturday.

Over 31,000 fans will throng the team’s stadium that has been expanded in advance of EURO 2008. That figure is a sign of the enormous football fever sweeping the Salzburg region, as no friendly match in Austria before has attracted such a significant attendance in living memory.

Sekagya will become the first Ugandan to play the Gunners and second to face a Premiershipside after David Obua, who faced Manchester United last year.

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