Sand Cranes rattle feathers at Cosafa tourney

In the end, Uganda Sand Cranes returned home with their heads held high with a third place finish at the Hollybet Cosafa Beach Soccer tourney in Durban, South Africa. The tournament that acted as a dress rehearsal  for the upcoming Afcon Beach Soccer in Maputo, drew the crème de la crème of beach soccer giants on the continent.

It was worthy noting that Angelo Schirinzi coached Sand Cranes had drawn the line in the sand in Durban with commanding wins over neighbours Tanzania, Mauritius and  Mozambique to stake their claim for a World Cup berth at the continental showpiece. That commendable display was sandwiched by a lopsided group loss to Egypt and a semifinal humbling by eventual winners Senegal.

"We played three good matches and failed to rise up against Egypt and Senegal who are obviously too strong for us. But, winning against Mozambique (8-7 in the classification match to finish third) shows that we are not far behind the best on the continent," the Swiss tactician revealed. Incidentally, Egypt and record Afcon winners Senegal, who faced off in a tense Cosafa final, are housed in Group B alongside Uganda and Madagascar.

Tangible gains

The tournament lifted Sand Cranes goalscorer Ambrose Kigozi to instant stardom after his nine strikes were only bettered by Mozambique’s Nelson Manuel who top scored with 13 goals. Custodian  Samson Kirya exploited the moment to take over the gloves from Meddie Kibirige although he still has some rough edges to sharpen. The jostle for the starting five slots offered Schirinzi a welcome selection dilemma and timely food for thought ahead of his next outing. That said, the gulf in class between Uganda and perennial contenders Senegal, Nigeria and Egypt will push Schirinzi to think of adding more fire power in his team before jetting off to Mozambique on October 25. If anything, the Swiss still has to polish his team's shambolic defending exposed in the 10-3 mauling by Senegal and the 7-2 annihilation by the Egyptians. Luckily for the Sand Cranes, the fear factor may have been erased in Durban and now it is time for key players like Isma Kawawulo, Brian Nkuubi, Baker Lukooya and Godfrey Lwesibawa to step up their performances. 

Afcon Beach Soccer tourney Mozambique, MaputoOctober 21-28 Group A; Mozambique, Malawi, Nigeria and Morocco Group B; Uganda, Senegal, Madagascar and Egypt Sand Cranes fixtures; October 22; Senegal vs. Uganda October 23; Uganda vs. Madagascar October 24; Uganda vs. Egypt