Our aim is to make Afcon qualification a habit – Sserunkuma

Thanking The Heavens. Sserunkuma cannot stop thanking the Almighty for Uganda’s latest conquest in Praia. PHOTO BY AMINAH BABIRYE

What you need to know:

  • Soccer. Now in his mid-thirties, striker Sserunkuma is at an age where he enjoys a rich blend of experience, maturity and an instinctive eye for goal, one which has never deserted him.

Those who know Geoffrey Sserunkuma will point to a soft-spoken, shy character who prefers to do his talking on the pitch.

Although he has been around the scene long enough, such is the KCCA striker’s start-stop international career that his goal in Cape Verde on Sunday had the sensation of a debut strike.
Yet the 2016-17 Azam Uganda Premier League top scorer, who struck a winner against Sunday’s opponents more than a decade ago at Namboole, has time and again been rated the country’s most natural marksman of his generation.

Geoffrey Massa may have possessed explosive pace in his prime and a willingness to run rugged his markers but his eye for goal was never as pure as Sserunkuma’s.

Now in his mid-thirties, Sserunkuma is at an age where he enjoys a rich blend of experience, maturity and an instinctive eye for goal, one which has never deserted him.
His discipline is a coach’s dream, his attitude in training first class.

Like someone willing to make up for lost time after being on the Cranes fringes for the better part of the last decade, Sserunkuma is confident his international career and Uganda’s fortunes are moving in the right direction.

“We want to prove to the world that qualification to Gabon 2017 was no fluke,” he told members of the local and international media moments after the team touched down from Cape Verde in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

Devout christian
“There are some people who still believe that we were lucky to reach the last Africa Cup of Nations but our motivation is to make participation at the tournament a habit,” he observed.
The devout Christianity in Sserunkuma was evident for all to see with the player making incessant references to God for Uganda’s journey thus far.

Knowing how far he has come – only one year ago he was among the so many veterans toiling on the books of now-relegated Lweza, Sserunkuma attributes his return to big stage to divine powers.

“I thank God for this opportunity to be seated before the cameras and for the victory Uganda achieved as well as my goal that won the match,” the forward noted in his first remarks.

In his subsequent words, he thanked the prayers of all Ugandans everywhere in the world that steered the team past a talented Cape Verde side in their capital of Praia.

Sserunkuma reiterated his belief that God would carry the team in the remaining group matches, which do not kickoff until March next year.

Latest opening
Having banged them in for fun at KCCA when the club successfully defended their league title and won the Uganda Cup, Sserunkuma’s place on the team became a given the moment Massa retired from international football.

Home and away goals for KCCA against Primeiro de Agosto and African champions Mamelodi Sundowns in the Africa Champions League preliminary stages showcased his temparemt for the big occasion and although he has been off the boil in the Caf Confederation Cup – where ironically international teammate Derrick Nsibambi is firing on all cylinders, the veteran poacher’s finishing has been enduring.

Sserunkuma is delighted that there is a change of guard in the Cranes with a shake-up evidently on-going
“The team is young and many players are all fighting to earn the right to make it for selection and that can only make the national team better.”

Typically, Sserunkuma signed off by thanking the man upstairs for his latest stint in national team colours and what lies ahead for the country.

At his age, there won’t be many more opportunities to represent Uganda and it is very apparent he is seizing his chance today to make up for lost time.
And for as long as he puts teams to the sword, Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic will be hard-pressed to overlook the national team’s oldest attacker.