Danito NSUBUGA
It was of one those disappointing evenings in Ugandan football not that we expected the Cranes to be clear favourites for progression to the next round but the manner in which the faint hopes were extinguished is what hurts most.
Swift Sports make an assessment of what was learned from the duel with Kenya
Fahad Bayo is plan A, B, C … Z
Uganda did not score a goal until his return to the team against Rwanda, the Cranes played to 0-0 stalemates with Kenya and Mali and they scored their first goal in Kigali when Fahad Aziz Bayo had been cleared by Ashdod to fly home.
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He scored again at Kitende and Uganda did not look like scoring against Kenya until his never give attitude helped him make the most of Brian Bwiire’s negligence to win a point for the Cranes.
Charles Lukwago has won the battle to be Onyango’s heir
With the automatic choice of Salim Jamal being sidelined for reasons only known to him and his bosses, the departed gloves of Dennis Onyango were there for the taking between Charles Lukwago and Ismail Watenga after the two custodians were used interchangeably in the opening two fixtures against Kenya and Mali.
Illness ruled Watenga out of the Rwanda tie and this gave Lukwago the nod which he perfectly utilised. He did not harm his chances against Kenya despite conceding a soft goal.
Uganda lacks in creativity
Judging by the manner and fashion in which all Bayo’s goals were scored, you can hardly be blamed if you concluded that the team is short of a deliberate plan to find goals.
Most of the attacks are instigated from the back where Timothy Awanyi or Bevis Mugabi hoofs it upfront for the forwards to chase.
Moses Waiswa, Bobosi Byaruhanga and Khalid Aucho all have a knack of lying too deep to hurt the opponent. Against Kenya especially in the first period, it was Isaac Muleme who tried to make things happen down the left flank but he was later deployed back to left back after the substitution of Azizi Kayondo.
Mukwala played out of position
At club level, he is employed as a target man or a number 9 and his strongest point is heading the ball.
Micho loves to utilise him as a right sided attacker because of his pace but against Kenya, he lacked direction and failed to impact the game as the Kenyans blocked all the channels through which he operates. At half time, he was replaced by Milton Karisa who is more accustomed to wing play.
Uganda has defenders in abundance
The fact that a senior player of Murushid Juuko’s stature was not missed following his stalemate with FIFA, speaks volumes about Uganda’s abundant options in defense.
Express captain Enoc Walusimbi was ruled out of the match through injury but he too wasn’t missed, Micho easily drifted in Bevis Mugabi and Timothy Awanyi and they did Ok.
Halid Lwaliwa didn’t even make the match day squad of 18.
Yunus Sentamu and Timothy Awanyi to miss the dead rubber in Morocco
The pair received simultaneous yellow cards against Rwanda and Kenya at Kitende which ruled them out of the trip to Agadir.
Kenya will always bite Uganda whenever it matters
The Harambee Stars are that bad mushroom that is supposed to be handled with care. In 2011, Uganda needed to beat them at Namboole and they forced a 0-0 draw and 10 years later, they returned to haunt Uganda and put an end to their dream of progressing to the knockouts and final qualifying round to Qatar 2022.