Hippos silver wraps best show

The 2023 African Games which ended on Saturday with a splendid show at the University of Ghana Stadium provided Uganda its best performance since the 1970s.

However, as Team Uganda departed Accra, they must feel that their performances in football (boys) and cricket (men) could have been better. 

The Cricket Cranes settled for bronze, routing Kenya by 106 runs in a tournament they looked destined for Gold before choking against Namibia in the semifinal. 

For the national U-20 football team, the eternal curse of losing to Ghana struck again. 

Uganda’s quest to win a major football title came to another agonizing end when the national under-20 side lost 1-0 to Ghana in the final of the 13th African Games on Friday.

According to Ghanaians and the internet, the name Afriyie either means someone born on a Friday or coming from good. 

Either way, Afriyie, this time Jeffry, came from good to thunder in a late winner to give the Starlets their second title in front of a boisterous 40,000-capacity crowd at the Accra Sports Stadium.

The youngster thought he had sent Ghana into the lead after only six minutes into the game but Zambian referee Hilary Ambaba ruled it for a foul on Hippos keeper Abdu Magada. 

He was not to be denied in the first minute of added time minutes after Patrick Kakande wasted a glorious chance for Uganda.

“A final is a final,” Morley Byekwaso, Hippos head coach mourned after the loss. the coach partly blamed their blunt attack on the day and his goalkeeper’s strategy to kick long balls rather than encourage free flow from behind despite Hippos' height disadvantage.

“We didn’t take our chances, especially in the 80s, they took theirs and punished us. The problem started coming when we allowed them to possess, cross and shoot in our goal,” he added.

Afriyie nightmare

This is the third time that Uganda is losing to Ghana in a major continental since their first meeting in 1978 at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Back then, the Uganda Cranes maneuvered through a group that had Tunisia, Morocco and Congo to finish as winners before edging Nigeria 2-1 in the semifinal.

However, the team succumbed to a 2-0 loss to hosts Ghana courtesy of Apoku Afriyie’s brace inside the Accra Sports Stadium.

Uganda met the West Africans again in the final of the 2021 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Mauritania. 

The Hippos overcame hosts Mauritania and Mozambique in the pools and Burkina Faso and Tunisia in the knockouts to set a date with Ghana’s Black Starlets.

Again, another Afriyie, that time Daniel, grabbed a double to dash Uganda’s dreams.

2023 African Games

Country                      Gold    Silver Bronze            Total

1.Egypt                        102      47        42                    191

2.Nigeria                     47        33        42                    122

3.South Africa             32        31        42                    105

4.Algeria                     29        38        47                    114

5.Tunisia                      22        26        39                    87

13.Uganda                   4          6          10                    20