Cranes walk into path of 15 blunt teams
When Uganda had last played at the Africa Cup of Nations before the ongoing edition, Cranes finished as tournament scorers.
Philip Omondi (RIP), who finished as joint top scorer, contributed three of Uganda’s nine goals enroute a runners-up place finish.
Ghana, Uganda’s conquerors in the final, 2-0, scored eight to lift the third of their four titles.
Coach Micho Sredojevic will do with anything much less than Omondi, regarded by many as the greatest to kick the onion bag here.
Cranes, having suffered identical 1-0 defeats to Ghana and Egypt to exit group D, are yet to score a goal.
Captain Geoffrey Massa and company have one last chance to alter that when they face Mali at the Stade d’Oyem today. Like Uganda, Mali, who drew goalless Egypt and lost 1-0 to Ghana at Stade de Port-Gentil, haven’t experienced the sweetness of a goal yet.
In 30 previous editions of the biennial continental tournament, as many as 15 teams have exited tournament without scoring.
The curse started with Ethiopia in the 1982 edition. It has been carried forward by Mozambique (1986) and Kenya (1988 and 1990).
Also, as Ivory Coast won the first of their two titles in Senegal in 1992, seven-time champions Egypt failed to bag a single goal.
Gabon, Sierra Leone (both 1994), DR Congo, Congo Brazaville (2000), Togo, Tunisia (in 2002) and South Africa (2006).
In 2008, Sudan joined the blunt ‘feast’ while conceding nine. Burkina Faso (2010) and Niger (2013) are the last two to fail to score at this level.
The worry for Micho so far must be that Cranes, scorers of six goals from six different players to qualify for this event after 39 years, haven’t fashioned many clear cut chances.
Farouk Miya’s shot shaved the outside of the post against Ghana while Joseph Ochaya’s effort legitimately disallowed for offside when the team cruelly lost to the Pharaohs. There hasn’t much else.
All the six different players who provided the cutting edge during qualification, bar the injured Brian Umony, are here.
The others are captain Geoffrey Massa, Tony Mawejje, Miya, William Luwagga Kizito and Khalid Aucho.
It’s the unpalatable history they must deal with just like they did with the 19 failed qualification campaigns before this one bore fruit.
