Profligate Cranes toil to Somalia win

Paul Put’s charges possessed the potential of skinning Somalia by about five goals and were helped by Abdi Mohamed’s red card in the 45th minute but lacked the killer instinct when it mattered most.

The 1-0 win over the Ocean Stars at the Berkane Stadium-Morocco on Tuesday will taste sour but reassuring nonetheless.

Like it was against Guinea on Friday, playmaker Travis Mutyaba was the liveliest player for Uganda, drawing fouls, effortlessly knitting passes to Mato and Fahad Bayo and offering that attacking outlet until he ran out of steam towards the end of the 2026 World Cup qualification contest.

Mutyaba was one of the offenders on a wasteful evening for Put’s charges, rolling the ball wide after some fine footwork created space in the box.

The biggest culprit was however Mato who wasted a one on one opportunity as he tried to round the goalkeeper and also failed to connect with another Bayo delivery from the right.

Ten-man Somalia die trying

With the tempo slowing down in the second half as Somalia opted to play on the break, Mato saw a cut back from Mutyaba deflected just wide.

The two combined again when a Mutyaba inch-perfect pass was wasted by the heaviest of first touches from Mato took him away from the goal mouth to the relief of the Somalia defenders.

One of the positives to pick from the team in what was Put’s second game since his appointment early this month is that he has given the players freedom to express themselves.

But with a number of them having been kept shackled under the safety-first tenure of coach Micho Sredojevic, many remain unaware of what is required of them.

Under Put every player appears to have a clean slate and there was a debut and starting spot for schoolboy Oyirwoth in midfield and a cameo for SC Villa’s Umar Lutalo.

For the uninitiated, Oyirwoth is yet to taste play in the top two divisions in Ugandan football just like Mutyaba is club less at the moment.

Oyirwoth was also one of three changes to the starting team with Ismail Watenga most notably replacing Salim Jamal in what turned out to be a soft landing back into the team.

As the qualification journey takes a break until June next year, Put’s team remain in the company of Guinea, Botswana, Mozambique who all have three points from the opening two games with Somalia bottom without a point.

Leaders Algeria are consequently the only team with maximum points after two games with only the group winners progressing directly to the World Cup.