Target minnows, not Burkina Faso

In the last campaign, Uganda Cranes psyched themselves up for mighty Ghana and got four points, but they lost all six to arguably the group's weakest, Togo that was captained by Emmanuel Adebayor. Photo by Eddie Chicco

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Without conscious endeavour, the Cranes will fall into the same trap of concentrating on Burkina Faso as main rivals, and yet qualification can only be finally achieved if maximum exertion is put into bettering Botswana and the Comoros

Try as I might I never seem to quite shake off my nostalgic inclinations, and it does not help one bit when the BBC comes up with a new Sporting Witness programme and choose to stir up memories of episodes perhaps best forgotten.
It turns out though that, even if the BBC’s promptings brought with them a certain wistfulness as they asked me to recollect and narrate the events surrounding that infamous Uganda-Rwanda fiasco of 2003, I am now grateful they called. And that is not because, in having to talk about that game at Namboole, I had to provide some background by delving into the earlier reverse fixture in Kigali and reminiscing about one of the best roads trips I have ever had.
What is history for if not to learn from it, and what purpose my reflections if not to share so that those tasked with doing so ensure they don’t re-occur?

It is not that I envisage a repeat of that Abubaker Tabula moment, a Ugandan player in national colours ever again sneaking into the opposition’s goalmouth, making off with the goalkeeper’s ‘juju’, heading for the Cranes bench at breakneck speed with the other team’s players in hot pursuit, and sparking off the mother of melees.
If you missed the chaotic scenes of that afternoon 12 years ago and have no idea what I am going on about, it is just as well. Because it is not for that particular tragi-comedy that I actually rewind, but the bigger picture of that failed campaign and the many others before and since.

In his column right next to mine last week - in the wake of the release of the fixtures for the Afcon 2017 qualifiers - my mate Moses Banturaki brilliantly articulated on the need for early preparations.
And so I will move on to pointing out a gross strategic error that has been one of the several contributing factors towards the near-misses that have characterised Uganda’s attempts to close the book on the unwanted history of having last qualified for Africa’s grandest football tournament in 1978.
That error has always been in paying too much attention to the group’s supposed favourites and taking the supposed minnows for granted.
Having beaten giants Ghana in that three-team group back in 2003, there was a cockiness to Uganda’s attitude going into the Rwanda game because we believed it our divine right to beat up on our ‘poorer cousins’ and march into the Tunisia 2004 finals.

It largely explains why, after missing a few chances to start the game, the Cranes players thought there must be some supernatural force stopping the ball from flying into ‘hapless’ Rwanda’s net; the Amavubi on their own were not deemed capable of managing such a feat.
Fast forward to last year’s failed attempt to reach the 2015 Afcon edition and you realise the trend has continued. Resounding efforts were made on and off the pitch and favourites Ghana and Guinea were beaten, but The Cranes lost all six points to the group’s worst outfit Togo.
Without conscious endeavour, the Cranes will fall into the same trap of concentrating on Burkina Faso as main rivals, and yet qualification can only be finally achieved if maximum exertion is put into bettering Botswana and the Comoros. After all, the games against the Burkinabe will be self-motivating.

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