Sunday started on a more laid back boring note, after my partner in crime David Isabirye decided to travel Huye to cover Group B matches of the 2016 African Nations Championship.
Guess it’s no longer news that DR. Congo demolished Ethiopia 3-0, and that Cameroon managed a slim 1-0 win over Angola. Back to our flat (me and David) on Simba Kimirongo, I was going about my daily routines when load shedding put everything at a standstill.
At first I thought it was a general problem only to realize later that Yaka had expired and it needed new subscription. But then, there was no time to sort that, Nigeria were about to have their last training session at the Kigali Regional Stadium in Nyamirambo.
Tactician Sunday Oliseh was also to address the media, the 1994 African Champion is fluent in both English and French thus it was hard to tell which language he is better at. Anyone remembers Tijani Babangida, the speed wizard in the Super Eagles’ team in the early 2000s? He is part of Oliseh’s backroom staff, though his job description is not clear.
Here, I also got a chance to meet new friends, journalists from Nigeria who love their national team but scared it won’t really perform. I also got to know that Oliseh is working on a time bomb, if he fails to deliver, he might not have a job by the time Nigeria goes back home. He also behaves like Jürgen Klinsman when the latter was in charge of Germany national and spent most of his time in California. Oliseh prefers to be in Belgium while his assistants take care of business back home.
The Nyamirambo stadium is as simple as they come, something every club in Uganda would be able to own if they really wanted too. After watching Nigeria and later Guinea go through their last drills before their openers against Niger and Tunisia, it was time to find my way home. At the time, David was still in Huye, donning an Ethiopian jersey; he almost failed to get bus back home, if it wasn’t for the mercy of a group of Congolese fans.