Talking Points: Uganda’s Afcon 2023 qualification has been a failure, but context is important

After 540 minutes, Uganda quest to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations came to end.

Left backs Aziz Kayondo and Joseph Ochaya scored as the Cranes saw off Niger in Morocco on Thursday but Tanzania’s draw with Algeria meant another failed campaign for Uganda.

The 1978 finalists went into the final game against Niger with fate out of their hands and only hoped for a favour from the Desert Foxes which didn’t come.

If bottom lines are your thing, the failed campaign will be an indictment for coach Micho and his bosses at Fufa.

In context, however, the conclusions are so clear and here are our five talking points.

1. Team not good enough – This could be a bitter pill to swallow but in reality, Uganda isn’t at the level in terms of quality and experience as to when they qualified for back-to-back Afcons in 2017 & 2019. Its hard to see the backbone of the current team especially after the retirement of Denis Onyango, Tonny Mawejje, Hassan Wasswa, Mike Azira and Murushid Jjuuko among others. The team’s inexperience and naivety showed in many games that they dropped points and the experienced duo of Emmanuel Okwi and Farouk Miya didn’t show up in most of the games when selected leaving the burden on young lads which they failed to handle.
2. Playing home games away from home – In the past, Uganda had made home a fortress when they hosted matches at Namboole. But for the entirety of this campaign, they played only one match at home – St. Mary’s stadium, Kitende to be particular and wasted a good home advantage in a 1-1 draw with Niger. The rest of the matches were played outside Uganda and that deprived the nation of the home support. Ironically, the Cranes picked only one point at home and lost the two matches hosted in Cameroon and Egypt to Algeria and Tanzania respectively.
3. Technical staff not good enough for current generation – With all due respect, Micho despite leading Uganda to Afcon 2017 after 39 years absence is no longer ideal to handle the current crop of players. Since his return, he has failed to impress performing poorly in the World Cup qualifiers for 2022 in a relatively manageable group that had Mali and neighbors Kenya and Rwanda and then in the failed Afcon 2023 campaign. The Serbian Wolf as he prefers to call himself is a tactician with a ‘cautious approach’ yet from the look of things, the current squad differs from the players his tactics suit.
4. Transition not well managed – Every time the Cranes have lost or drawn a game in the recent past, Fufa President Moses Magogo has defended the result citing ‘transitional issues’ as the problem. No doubt about the fact that the generation of Onyango, Mawejje, Wasswa, Luwagga, Jjuuko, Azira, Wadada, Iguma is past us but why has there been a rush to hand young lads the mantle yet there is another generation that somehow has been thrown in the bins. Before we usher in the triumphant U20 side that did us proud in Mauritania, where is the 2015 U17 side that was handled by Matia Lule – the likes Ashraf Mugume, Muhammad Shaban, Hassan Ssenyonjo, Julius Poloto, Bashir Asiku alongside Lawrence Bukenya, Allan Okello and many more. We can all argue some didn’t do themselves justice but were they given the same time, opportunity and attention on the national team like Gavin Kizito, Kenneth Ssemakula, Bobosi Byaruhanga, Travis Mutyaba, Richard Basangwa, Ismail Mugulusi and even Travis Mutyaba? Your guess is as good as mine. I believe the two generations would have blended better than cross generating Travis or Mugulusi with the Okwis.
5. Can’t say enough about Tanzania – We can say all we want but big credit to the Taifa Stars. From match day one away to Niger, they looked a side playing on a mission. The experienced lads in Mbwana Samatta, Simon Msuva, Himid Mao gave everything and this helped young lads like Dismas Novatus and Dickson Job among others confidence to thrive. The TFF also made a timely decision in appointing Adel Amrouche who did wonders by beating Uganda in Cairo, Niger in Dar and picking a point in Annaba. Overall, they deserved second place than Uganda and got it at the end of the campaign.