Marching on to Morocco
Tony Mawejje’s assuredness on the ball will be vital Cranes in the remaining matches. Photo by Eddie Chicco
What you need to know:
Cranes will be as good as home if they defeat Emmanuel Adebayor’s Togo at Namboole in October and pick a point off the same side in Lome four days later. The next tie against Ghana will be a pressure-free rubber.
Two weeks ago, I declared the five reasons that would deliver us to Morocco. I thought the advantages of match practice having played the preliminary rounds, and the momentum that provides especially given that the last of those pre-qualifying games was an away win in West Africa would tell.
I also said that the abysmal form of our opponents, our tremendous home record and the brief nature of this campaign would play their part.
I still do believe that these indeed will be the reasons we shall make it to our first Afcon in over three decades. And as it is our first two games have been true to form.
Our first game away to Ghana turned out to be our best match in decades. But this wasn’t an accident.
From that game it was evident who had been playing and who was lethargic. The only way Uganda is going to out-pass and out-think Ghana is not just down to good home work.
Dubious penalty
Yes the preparation that went into the game must get its due credit, but you know something is amiss when Ghana not only needs a dubious penalty to stay in the game, but are extremely lucky to share the spoils against Uganda in Kumasi.
Next up was a resounding win over Guinea beneath the faltering Namboole floodlights. We always save our best for Namboole so little surprise there. Guinea was technically superior but we made our home form count.
It was no routine win though and was significant to the extent that it propelled us to top of the group.
Moving forward October is upon us and it shall be a pivotal month. We shall take on Togo twice in a space of four days starting with a home tie. Win that game and we shall stay top of the group regardless of what happens in the Guinea-Ghana game on the same day.
Most importantly it would mean with half the campaign played we would be on seven points and on our way to Lome to play a Togo side that will have zero points and therefore very little motivation for the game.
Pressure-free match
A result in the Lome game would at the best, grant us automatic qualification and at worst best-third place credentials. We need to aim for precisely that so as to render the Ghana game at Namboole a pressure free match, the kind of game in which the Cranes thrives yes, but also one you would be mad to bet your mortgage on a Cranes win.
Now of course all of the above holds all other factors constant. It assumes we stick to football and avoid reverting to type by bringing out those narrow interests that always drag our eyes off the ball. It is also why I thought that the shortness of this campaign would not allow us enough time to spoil it.
Apparently I could be wrong. If the rumors are to be believed there is a storm brewing behind the scenes engineered and powered by forces that believe the success of the Cranes would give too much credit to people who don’t ‘deserve’ it.
For now I will not speculate so I promise to return soon with the findings of a research into the matter.
