Coach Micho must show cause by risking more

What you need to know:

Afcon qualifiers. With Ghana and Guinea Afcon qualifiers turned into must-wins next month, Micho will have no option but risk more. Even when we fail, we should be seen to be trying, to be risking for results

Lome.

Sport is one dynamic item. It changes opinions with each passing result. You win and your sainthood will be taken up for consideration. You lose and you can as well start saying your prayers, for the fans and media will not spare you, although they must also know their boundaries.

In the home game against Rwanda at Namboole, the Under 17 team first put up an exciting display as they tore apart their counterparts.

Their performance was to only be soiled by a lethargic first half display by the senior team against Mauritania.

Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic needed something to give. Urgently. He then made a halftime tactical change, taking off a rather enterprising Kizito Luwagga for versatile winger Brian Majwega when he could have ejected a more prosaic Moses Oloya.

Exasperated gasps could be heard down the media booth. But just four minutes into the second period and Majwega had put the Cranes ahead with his weaker right foot, something Luwagga had failed to do with his weaker left when a first half opportunity had fallen to him.

Geoffrey Massa completed a coup de grace for a 2-0 victory before Robert Ssentongo’s away strike sent the Cranes to the group stage.

Verdict: Micho had passed the tactical test, had become an instant tactical genius and munched up the headlines for the right reasons. The press pumped him up, the fans acknowledged.

Fast forward to Kumasi, where Uganda put up a spirited display to draw 1-1 with Ghana. Once again Micho surprised the observers when his starting line-up against the Black Stars was released.

Just when most expected Isaac Isinde to start alongside Andy Mwesigwa in defence, as had been in the preliminary games, SCVU centre-back Savio Kabugo was the man to help the skipper stop Asamoah Gyan and co.

What a risk on the untested! A risk away from home, a risk against the four-time African champions, but a risk worth taking if what we are told of Isinde’s reported poor shift in the 3-0 friendly defeat to Niger en route to Ghana was to go by.

Had it backfired, Micho (pic) would have got the bullets from the media and fans – as expected. But the rest is history as Kabugo has not put a foot wrong since and will – factors remaining constant - start against Ghana on November 15.

Then came the 10-year home record breaker where Cranes main contribution at Namboole was to let Donou Kokou beat Godfrey Walusimbi and Dennis Onyango in goal for the winner.

Hardly had Togo scored before a packed 40,000-seater stadium than Micho sprung into panic mode, making a reactionary change by withdrawing Khalid Aucho for a recently inactive Emmanuel Okwi. Okwi’s performance confirmed that the striker’s match unfitness, and there was little with his Simba club recently to back even his being on the bench.

The curious case of Umony
On the day, the only substitution worth making was Brian Majwega on for Luwagga as he had just been on trials in South Africa. Brian Umony, who replaced Moses Oloya, too hardly deserved it.

With due respect to Umony, he had not played any league game due to injury and coming into that tie, his only claim to being included his five goals for KCC in Cecafa. He needed time before walking back straight into the team at the expense of fitter and active players.

All the while, you had a Yunus Ssentamu, who had been firing goals on the continent for his AS Vita, and Daniel Sserunkuma, who had just plundered a hat-trick for his Gor Mahia in Kenya.

Micho risked with Kabugo in Ghana away from home, surely the risk of giving Ssentamu and Sserunkuma more playing time at home can’t be evil!

On to Lome for the return, Micho surprised many – including some of the travelling Fufa officials – when he had Umony on his starting line-up. Some questioned why Majwega, who came on in the second half, can’t be trusted – say – ahead of Umony, who hardly shifted gear before he was taken off.

Alternatively, why insist on a player who is not active at his club and keep an in-form one in the shape of Sserunkuma on the bench only to be thrust on when you are fighting for your lives?