In the aftermath of yet another Uganda Cranes heart breaking failure to qualify for Africa Nations Cup finals, angry Ugandan fans have launched attacks on skipper Andrew Mwesigwa and coach Mulitin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic.
The Cranes failed to force a draw against Guinea in their penultimate group E match which saw them miss out on a slot in Equatorial Guinea next year.
There is no denying the fact that goals from Ibrahima Traore and Souma Seydouba in the 2-0 to Guinea loss came as a result of Mwesigwa’s fouls and perhaps the 1-0 loss at home to Togo attributed to Micho’s tactics on the day but that happens in football.
But attacking Mwesigwa to the extent of vandalizing his home as reports suggest is taking this too far.
Not that Mwesigwa and Micho have a right to play badly or apply poor tactics, but then neither of the duo was around in 1993 when Adam Semugabi missed a penalty against Nigeria and none played in the 1-0 loss to Rwanda in 2003.
Since 1978; the last time Uganda featured at the finals, Cranes has had 19 coaches including Paul Hasule (who had two stints; 1999 & 2001 – 2003).
Neither of those have led Cranes to the Promised Land so crucifying Micho won’t save the situation but only doing things right will see us end all these heart breaks.
Without structures, a strong league, top quality players, good administrators who put football first ahead of personal egos and government commitment, qualifying for tournaments like AFCON will always remain a ‘dream’ like we’ve already dubbed it.
There is no short cut to success and so Micho and Mwesigwa are just scapegoats.