It was a disastrous weekend in the history of Ugandan football. The nation lost former Express FC and Cranes legend Ali Kitonsa who was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Kitagobwa – Butambala and also lost 2-0 to Liberia in a group J 2014 World Cup qualifier in Liberia. With death, it’s a call from the almighty God and we can only pray for the Legend to Rest in Eternal Peace. However, with the loss in Monrovia, Kawowo Sports’ Ismael Kiyonga who followed the events from the time the squad for the game was summoned reveals the reasons why the Cranes lost. Let’s get started;
Poor preparations:
Truth be told, these were the poorest preparations for the national team ahead of any qualifying (Afcon/World cup) game. The team only converged for seven days of training and only went to residential a day before they left for Liberia. The federation gave an excuse of having no money but this fixture was known months ago. Prior planning should have been in place to avoid such excuse.
Poor squad selection:
It should be noted that over 70% of the players summoned for the game have not been active either due to lack of first team football at their respective clubs or having no clubs at all. Players like Mike Mutyaba, Abel Dhaira, Denis Onyango and Emmanuel Okwi have not got playing time at their clubs yet while Tony Mawejje (ruled himself out), Geoffrey Kizito and Moses Oloya have been out of action for months since they are club less. In addition, Henry Kalungi and Andrew Mwesigwa were just in pre-season with their clubs as their seasons’ are yet to kick off.
Besides, the team that travelled to Liberia was pre-determined even before training began. This explains why players like Hamis Kiiza, Daniel Sserunkuma and William Luwagga Kizito never reported for duty since the technical team already knew who was to play against Lone Stars. This was suicidal as there was no competition for places on the team. To make matters worse, players; Savio Kabugo, Habib Kavuma, Joseph Mpande, Fahad Kawooya and Moses Feni were summoned purposely for training and this was made known to them. Can you imagine?
This continued up to the team selected to start the game. It was surprising that Mike Mutyaba; a player who is yet to feature in a competitive match for close to 12 months got a nod to start ahead of players who have been active in the that particular time. No wonder, reports from Monrovia indicate he was the worst player on the pitch on Sunday.
Uganda Cranes were clueless about Lone Stars:
It’s surprising but true. Uganda Cranes knew little or nothing about their opponents. From the technical team to players, the only thing they knew about Liberia was George Weah. Team captain Andrew Mwesigwa and Henry Kalungi confessed in one of their interviews with Daily Monitor and Supersport.com respectively. This means that the team ventured into an unknown territory thus knew less about the strength and weakness of the Liberia team.
Poor away record:
In the last ten years, Uganda Cranes has only managed to pick maximum points from an away qualifier just once. It came as recent as June 2011 when the Cranes beat Guinea Bissau 1-0 thanks to David Obua’s goal. Besides, Uganda has never won an away game in the history of World Cup qualifiers. To make matters worse, the 1-1 draw in Angola in 2012 was the first time Uganda picked a point away from home in the competition.
In conclusion, other long term reasons like failure to set up structures, inactive Fufa technical Committee and complacency were also part of the reasons we lost.
What is your view?
