Prime
A captain in peril, Okwi needs final renaissance
Cranes captain Okwi has embodied the team's struggles. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
A bundle of promise in his early days, you always felt Okwi - even with his impressive national team return of 28 goals - was capable of more than you got as his career progressed. Now in his twilight, he faces intense criticism from Cranes fans as he tries to squeeze what is left of his less willing body
Watching Uganda captain Emmanuel Okwi in a Cranes shirt in the last four years has been as frustrating as the national team’s performances.
Frustrating for the player, and the fans. It is the nature of sport. And life.
When it is all going great, everyone is happy. When it derails, all your shortcomings manifest uninvited, only counting on strong character to prevail.
Once upon a time
The national team itself last played anything close to interesting football in some Afcon 2019 qualifying games and at the finals tournament in Egypt.
Okwi, Faruku Miya and Khalid Aucho are the most senior players that played that football and remain part of the current set-up.
A good number including former captain Denis Onyango and Mike Azira have since retired, leaving the mantle to the above to lead the younger ones.
Chaotic changes
Unfortunately, the whole process has been rather chaotic. From hiring and firing Johnny McKinstry after 2019 Afcon coach Sebastien Desabre left, then Abdallah Mubiru in between to complete an already gone-wrong 2021 Afcon qualifying campaign, it was all anarchy.
A dash back to old flame Micho Sredojevic, the man who ended Uganda’s 39-year Afcon finals absence with that Gabon 2017 fairytale, was hoped to get Uganda back on track, but as it turns out, the mojo is hardly still there.
That Fufa themselves seem devoid of a clear strategy on what transition is hardly helps matters.
Transition? What transition?
Transition goes beyond introducing young players into the national team.
Transition is a deliberate periodical strategy that interlinks the technical director or talent development officer with national team and club coaches with clearly defined style of play and desired goals in a given time.
Now, even if you define what you want, where and when, you won’t get the desired results if you have a captain of the ship that contradicts the way to your goals.
In the end what you have is uncoordinated troop movement on the pitch that can neither retrace their way back to Afcon finals or put up a phased, consistent manner of play aligned to your goals.
What you see today with the Cranes today goes beyond Micho’s perceived incompatibility with the task at hand, Okwi and his fellow players.
It is a product of a stuck strategy and poor planning straight from the clubs to the top echelons of Fufa.
That Uganda no longer has the Namboole fortress has also hardly helped matters.
Players need to stand up
Yet, even with the above, players themselves have hardly given their best. You watch the team and struggle to see what extra effort they give, especially the senior players. Perhaps they do, but the bodies have since given up.
Everything seems offside. Even the armband that was handed to Okwi in 2021 after Onyango announced retirement came against the run of play.
Okwi’s body had started showing signs of exhaustion. But if the striker had any such thoughts of following Onyango in retirement, they were quickly put to bed by the armband.
Those who still believed in Okwi’s two feet, especially those who knew his potential and watched him in the late 2000s and early 2010s, hoped the armband would spark something to squeeze the remaining juice.
But that has hardly been the case. The striker, 30 years old according to available records, clearly wants to play on, but the body has consistently defied his and coaches’ wishes.
Micho has had to play him across the front three to see where he can contribute best but Okwi has still failed to get back his mojo.
Of course, alongside Miya and Aucho, and Salim Jamal in goal are supposed to show the way.
But even as we enter the final matchday of the 2023 Afcon qualifiers, you would be forgiven to think that even Micho might be unaware of that. Any chance Fufa are? We would know.
Can he still tap into former self?
Of course if you started seeing Okwi four years ago you would wonder where Micho even gets the drive to summon him.
Since the striker’s impressive Afcon finals in Egypt, where he scored two goals - one in the 2-0 win over DRC and another in the 1-1 draw with Zimbabwe, Okwi has been to four clubs in Egypt, Rwanda and Iraq (two).
He has not managed to get an extension at three of them, and is now at Erbil in Iraq since January this year.
Okwi last scored a competitive goal in November 2019, then in the 2-0 win over Malawi in the 2021 Afcon qualifiers at Namboole.
His only two goals since being named captain two years ago came in March 2022 against Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in an exhibition tournament.
Impressive past keeping him on
This is not to say Okwi is clueless about football. He is actually one of Uganda’s best strikers of all time having scored 28 goals in 95 appearances.
Magid Musisi remains Uganda’s all-time top scorer with 45 goals in an estimated 110 caps.
Of Okwi’s 28 goals, 22 impressively came in competitive matches. He scored three goals in World Cup qualifiers against Angola and Egypt, netted twice at the 2019 Afcon finals tournament and grabbed four in Afcon qualifiers.
Five Cecafa tournaments, his last being in 2013, contribute his other 13 competitive goals.
Will he add to the above tally? It is hard to see him beyond these qualifiers but it is the nature of athletes to always push for more.
Okwi has one more game to go in the 2023 Afcon qualifiers, and has a chance to extend his stay should he play a role for Uganda to qualify - unlikely as it seems - for the finals.
But time and conditions are not his best ally. All points to a captain in peril, who urgently needs one final renaissance.
Okwi at a glance
Full name: Emmanuel Arnold Okwi
Date of birth: December 25, 1992 (age 30)
Place of birth: Kampala, Uganda
Height: 76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position: Forward
Club information
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008-2009: SC Villa 40 (13)
2009-2013: Simba (Tanzania) 38 (18)
2013: Étoile du Sahel (Tunisia) 1 (0)
2013: SC Villa
2013–2014: Yanga (Tanzania) 18 (9)
2014–2015: Simba 20 (16)
2015–2017: SønderjyskE (Denmark) 4 (0)
2017: SC Villa 13 (10)
2017–2019: Simba 53 (36)
2019-2021: Al Ittihad (Egypt) 14 (2)
2021-2022: Kiyovu Sports (Rwanda)
2022: Al-Zawraa SC (Iraq)
2023: Erbil SC (Iraq)
*** Starts from Okwi’s most recent clubs have been difficult to get***
International career
2011 to date: Uganda 95 (28)
Appearances, goals & year for Uganda Cranes
Year Apps Goals
2009: 7 1
2010: 6 4
2011: 6 5
2012: 12 3
2013: 10 5
2014: 5 0
2015: 0 0
2016: 6 0
2017: 8 1
2018: 8 2
2019: 11 5
2020: 2 0
2021: 6 0
2022: 4 2
2023: 4 0
Total: 95 28
Okwi’s national team competitive goals: 22
Distribution: 3 goals in World Cup qualifiers, 2 in Afcon finals tournament, 4 in Afcon qualifiers, and 13 in Cecafa
Competitive goals broken down
2018 Fifa WC qualifiers: 1 goal versus Egypt. Ended 1-0
2014 Fifa WC qualifiers: 1 goal in 2-1 win over Angola
2014 Fifa WC qualifiers: 1 goal in Angola. Ended 1-1
Egypt Afcon 2019 finals: 1 goal in 2-0 win over DRC, 1 goal in 1-1 draw with Zimbabwe
2021 Afcon qualifiers: 1 goal in 2-0 win over Malawi
2019 Afcon qualifiers: 2 goals in 3-0 win over Lesotho
2013 Afcon qualifiers: 1 goal in 4-0 win over Congo
Cecafa Cup: 13 goals (Cecafa 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
