By Joseph Mary Ssempiira.
Uganda Cranes headed to Cameroon with high hopes, but where did it all go so wrong for the boys?
Three tough games, two losses, one draw. That’s the story of the Cranes’ 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) campaign in Cameroon.
Once again the Cranes fall again for the fifth time in the row at Africa’s second biggest tournament.
With an expectant nation glued to their television sets, Uganda went on to put in a hopeless performance in a tournament they apparently prepared so well and hard for.
Indeed the performance was not up to standard and below is the reasons why I think the Cranes put up a very disappointing show particularly against Rwanda and Togo.
The coach’s team selection:
Coach Johnathan McKinstry looked utterly helpless with team selection; especially on who to start in key positions.
McKinstry must take plenty of the blame for the Cranes’ poor performance. For example in attack; his unwillingness to deploy Brian Aheebwa as one of his first priority forwards in the game against Rwanda and the following games was damning.
Going into CHAN, Aheebwa was Uganda’s hottest forward going by his performance and sharpness for his team KCCA Football Club both in the league and at the continent. He was the most consistent performer for KCCA FC, scoring 10 goals in 6 games.
When it came to the midfield in game one, he opted to start two young inexperienced players, Bright Anukani and Abdu-Karim Watambala leaving Tonny Mawejje and Saidi Kyeyune on the bench. The team needed the leadership and experience of these two players who would have been very essential since many of the boys were first timers at such a big stage.
In my opinion, he should have deployed Mawejje in the defensive heart of the midfield as a shield for the back four and support for the Anukani and Watambal or Kagimu in the midfield attacking positions.
In defense, when team Captain Halid Lwalilwa was ruled out before the kickoff of the first game against Rwanda, the best option to replace him would have been Denis Iguma and not Paul Patrick Mbowa.
The injures:
The injury to Lwalilwa in defense before the first game was a superficial blow to the Cranes. The Vipers Sports Club centre-half and Cranes captain is, when fit and focused, the team’s classiest defender. His partnership with Mustafa Mujuzi would have been the coach’s first choice.
Just as significant, however, was the injury sustained by Milton Karisa in the early minutes of the Cranes’ first game against Rwanda which ruled him out of the next two games against Togo and Morocco.
Before the injury, I think the coach looked at Karisa as his first priority with whom other forwards would play.
Lack of defensive discipline:
This may seem a harsh criticism for a team but truth be told, the Cranes defensive partnership of Mustafa Mujuzi and Paul Patrick Mbowa was very shaky to the extent that it even conceded two own goals against Togo and Morocco; and in many incidents, they goalkeeper Charles Lukwago was the star player and actually without any fear of contradiction, I chose him and Saidi Kyeyune as my only positives from the tournament.
The team’s sloppiness was conspicuous particularly against Togo and Morocco; time and again, the Cranes allowed the opposition runs into them.
For example against Morocco, Iguma, Mujuzi and Lwaliwa were caught out of position many times leaving the team to survive on goalkeeper Lukwago’s brilliance and I personally believe that the score line in this particular game would have been more than what we saw, but thanks to Lukwago for putting up a good show even in a game in which the Cranes were totally embarrassed.
Going into the tournament, the defense wasn’t one of the Cranes’ worriers but from what we saw, it’s one department that let us down, other departments notwithstanding.
Inability of midfielders to dictate play:
Having both enjoyed fantastic seasons with their teams back home in the league, much was expected of Bright Anukani, Abdu-Karim Watambala and Shafik Kagimu, however, this midfield trio was perhaps the most disappointing of all the under-performers.
Anukani and Kagimu who started in all the Cranes games seemed a little cursed with no genuine service to create chances for the forwards.
The Cranes’ midfield rarely showed the intensity and the ball-winning ability that was supposed to curb the considerable midfield threat particularly against Togo and Morocco.
Kyeyune, meanwhile, was a much better player than the rest in the midfield each time he was given an opportunity on the pitch and it is not by surprise that he came out of the tournament as the Cranes’ top score with two goals.’
The past experience at CHAN:
I think the poor show at CHAN in the past editions is still haunting the Cranes because since they made their maiden appearance at the tournament in 2011 in Sudan, everything has been bad in terms of performance and results.
The Cranes have played at the last five editions consecutively, including the one in Cameroon but have only managed one win, 5 draws and 9 losses out of the 15 games played at the tournament.
Past Cranes’ CHAN appearances and performance:
Sudan 2011: Group A: Uganda, Sudan, Gabon and Algeria
Under British Born Coach Robert Williamson, the Cranes lost all the three games against Algeria (2-0), Sudan (1-0) and Gabon (2-1).
South Africa 2014: Group B: Uganda, Morocco, Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso.
Under Coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sedrojevic, the Cranes won 2-1 against Burkina Faso 1-2 Uganda Yunus Sentamu 15’ 73’; drew 0-0 with Zimbwabw 0-0 Uganda and lost 3-1 to Morocco. Sentamu scoring the only goal in that game in the 59 minute.
Rwanda 2016: Group D: Uganda, Mali, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Under Coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sedrojevic, the Cranes put up a poor show; failing to win a game. They drew 2-2 with Mali (Joseph Ochaya 11’ and Faruk Miya 40 minute penalty); 1-1 with Zimbwabwe (Geoffrey Sserunkuma 90+3) and lost 1-0 to Zambia.
Morocco 2018: Group B: Uganda, Cote D’Ivoire, Zambia and Namibia.
Coach Sebastien Desabre, the Cranes drew 0-0 with Cote D’Ivoire and lost 3-1 to Zambia (Derrick Nsibambi 40’) and 1-0 to Namibia.
The 2020 CHAN edition has been the worst performance for the Cranes in five successive tournament outings.
The writer, Joseph is the Editor – in - Chief of www.sportznow.ug a subsidiary of Sportz Now Media Limited.
