Back-to-back losses to Togo leave Micho in spot of bother
Wipe the dust off your calculators and get your fingers working. It’s that time yet again when different permutations regarding Uganda’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualify-ing campaign have to be examined.
While it’s still early to state with finality that the current campaign is destined to become just another statistic in Uganda’s voluminous essay on how not to qualify for the Afcon finals, dropping from first to third in Group E has flared up a spot of bother. Only two rounds might be left to play, but with just four points separating table-topping Ghana (8 points) from wooden spoon holders Guinea (4points), and indeed Uganda, Group E is sure as tight as a miser’s purse.
It must nonetheless be thoroughly discomforting for Cranes coach, Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic, who until two Saturdays ago had showed that he had the Midas touch. One listless coaching display in the first match of a doubleheader against Togo when Micho had the panic button on speed dial changed things. Not for the better, sadly. Uganda lost the match 1-0 to a solid, if unspectacular, Togo outfit, ending Mandela National Stadium’s decade-long proud reputation as a fortress.
Micho’s knee-jerk substitutions proved to be a vain attempt on that occasion. There were no hurried substitutions on Wednesday, but this didn’t stop Uganda from losing 1-0. Micho had been outwitted — not once but twice — by Tchanile Tchakala, a Togolese journeyman coach who, among others, previously coached nondescript clubs in Niger. Before assuming the coaching reins of the Togo Sparrow Hawks, Tchakala was a sidekick of Frenchman Didier Six. When Six was sent on gardening leave by the Togolese FA, Tchakala was elevated to the head coach position of the Sparrow Hawks.
By subjugating Micho, Tchakala has opened old wounds about efficacy of foreign coaches vis-a-vis their indigenous opposite numbers. While executing a series for NTV Uganda that documented five near misses in Afcon qualification campaigns, the afore-mentioned subject came up for debate. Jackson Mayanja has for awhile been an una-shamed cheerleader, and couldn’t resist to delve full throttle into the subject. A sidekick of former national coaches Laszlo Csaba and Bobby Williamson, Mayanja couldn’t come to grips with the usual commonplace issue of indigenous African coaches getting the tattered cushion as their foreign counterparts are feather-bedded.
Mayanja doesn’t cut a solitary figure on this. Previously, the likes of George Ssim-wogerere have told your columnist that the line separating home-bred coaches and those from overseas is blurred. Tchakala has now given them more fodder. They will no doubt have also noted that a Ghanaian native — Maxwell Konadu — has done more than learn on the ropes as the Black Stars’ position at the summit of Group E attests.
It remains to be seen whether interim Black Stars coach Konadu will be in charge when Ghana make a trip to Uganda on 15 November. The Ghanaian FA has put together a wish list of coaches it intends to cherry-pick that reads like a who-is-who (Avram Grant, Bernd Schuster, etc). For Micho, it will matter precious little who is in the dugout when Ghana pay Uganda a visit. A win against Ghana and another away to Guinea at their adopted home in Morocco four days later could spare Micho a trip to the guillotine and Ugandans that all so familiar calculus barely simplified by a calculator.
Cricket team will have to overcome spin phobia to stand a chance
The national cricket team departs for the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on Monday with new Technical Director, Peter Kirsten, in tow.
Kirsten will for all intents and purposes wear the hat of Cricket Cranes coach during the International Cricket Council (ICC) Division III World Cricket League.
The Ugandan cricket fraternity let out a collective wail when ICC moved the global tour-nament from Kampala to Kuala Lumpur, but now will be hoping that Kirsten comes up with the goods when it matters most.
History suggests that Kirsten will have his work cut out, and it’s not just because the South African’s track record with lowly Jersey and Zambia is less than stellar.
Just as vexing is Uganda’s inability to play spin that has time and again been ruthlessly ex-posed on global tours.
The slow wickets in Malaysia have particularly endeared them-selves to spinners. While this will no doubt be music to the ears of skipper Frank Nsubuga, his predecessor Davis Arinaitwe and the ebullient Henry Ssenyondo, it will be anything but during Cricket Cranes’ innings.
Stay at the crease
Kirsten’s obdurateness stood him in good stead on the cricket pitch by not only securing an odd Test century at Headingley in 1994, but also spanning his career across two decades.
Cricket Cranes players could do with such longevity not much in the lifespan of their careers as their stay at the crease. Ugandan batsmen have proven to be quite ephemeral at the crease.
Batting partnerships have often been a rare commodity during run chases or when the Cricket Cranes are put in. This column has addressed this subject before, pointing at the inability to do the basics — rotate strike and play with a straight bat.
Will the rot finally stop in the forthcoming tour? Above all, will Kirsten’s obdurateness that saw him bat doggedly en route to raking up tons of runs rub off Cricket Cranes players?
The soft underbelly that Uganda has in the shape of being spin-averse will continue to be targeted.
The Cricket Cranes will continue to learn that a chain is only as good as its weakest link as an age-old dictum cares to remind us.
This column wishes the Cricket Cranes all the best in their endeavours, but as someone once said, fortune favours the prepared.Is Uganda prepared for the spin attack that will be hurled at it in Malaysia?
Time will remove the haze.
What we now know....
We know that a cursory glance can lead one to conclude that East African ladies golf is in good health. The latest Flavia Namakula, Angel Eaton showdown at the 61st Uganda Ladies Open, which reached a crescendo yesterday at the par 72 Kitante course, was a beauty to behold.
We know that round two of the Ladies Open was particularly a burst of heart-stopping action with both Eaton and Namakula returning under par scores to the clubhouse.
Across in Kenya, 16-year-old Naomi Wafula has been making waves with her golfing masterclasses. Yet we know that the state of affairs in ladies golf across the region is anything but rosy.
We know that only 30 lady golfers or thereabouts graced this year’s Ladies Open. It was by all accounts a tawdry number that is beneath contempt. Above all, we know that it shows that a recruitment drive is clearly due.
The Uganda Ladies Golf Union and indeed its counterparts across the region have it all to do to unearth and summarily maintain fresh talent.
