Uganda: Cranes Must Break Third Game Hoodoo

Mark Ssali

26 March 2011

analysis

Matchday Three is usually the point at which Uganda Cranes qualifying campaigns have traditionally begun to disintegrate.

All the frantic computations and permutations that have come into play at the end of each one of the futile attempts to reach the Africa Cup of Nation finals in recent memory can be traced back to this day; Ugandan fans looking for answers when they reach for their calculators later this year ought to recall the events of March 26.

Hopefully, those calculators will not be necessary after the final whistle against Kenya’s Harambee Stars on the final day of qualifying, because The Cranes will have taken care of business in Guinea Bissau.

For this double header against the West Africans, the preferred scenario to break the Matchday Three jinx and end the long drought would have been to start at home this weekend and finish away.

But there can never be anything ideal in such a script; to finally qualify for the Afcon finals after 34 years, Uganda are going to have to do it against the odds. Bissau is not one of the more feared destinations in African football, not anything like Cairo, Tunis, Yaounde or Lagos, but for the Cranes under the circumstances today represents a Biblical-style walk into the lion’s den.

The preparations

The preps were not expected to be ideal, and they have not been.

For two reasons, there was little Fufa could do about the situation; the first is that, because the team is made up almost entirely of foreign-based players, it was impossible to organise any friendlies outside Fifa’s international calendar, and the second is that Uganda’s plate was full anyway with games for the home-based players in the Middle East, at Cecafa, in the Nile Basin and Chan.

Better late than never though, and the travel plans Fufa finally came up with will have gone a long way in helping with bonding and acclimatisation by the time the boys take to the pitch tonight.

It augurs well that the bulk of the team has not suffered that many defeats under Bobby Williamson so getting together is not a traumatic experience, and of the four players who endured the Chan nightmare only Simeon Masaba is likely to be involved in Bissau. Hamza Muwonge, Owen Kasule and Mike Mutyaba are bench certainties, with the latter at the very best hopeful of a brief cameo.

The team

The probable starters should consequently have relative camaraderie under difficult conditions tonight, with all prior indications being that everything from the weather, travel, food, pitch, crowd and opposition should be hostile to the extreme.

It is not difficult to see Williamson assuming the defensive stance he adopted against Egypt in the Nile Basin tourney and to some extent in the Chan as well, but the head coach and his crew have got to be alert to the strengths of the opposition from the onset and have the vision and temerity to change tactics at the first sign of weakness from the continent’s relative novices, even if we know that they are a lot better than their track record and world ranking.

Plan A will little doubt be of a counter-attacking nature, but The Cranes are not going to emerge from Bissau or indeed from this campaign without being bold and taking educated risks.

It is a thin line but there is some difference between being overly defensive and keeping team shape, and The Cranes should go for the latter unless inevitably forced into the former by relentless, quality pressure.

A 4-4-1-1 with David Obua filling in behind the lead striker should quickly give way to a 4-2-3-1 when the team wins possession and hits on the break, or if Guinea Bissau do not turn out to be as strong and assertive as initially feared.

Under the circumstances, it would be advisable to start Nestory Kizito and Godfrey Walusimbi on the left flank, with Masaba and Vincent Kayizzi on the right.

Ibrahim Sekagya and Andy Mwesgiwa are shoe-ins, and in front of them Musa Mudde and Tonny Mawejje should be dead-certs to take up sentry behind Obua.

The enigmatic Geoffrey Massa should lead the line, but again Williamson should have no hesitation in throwing on better goal getters Geoffrey Sserunkuma and Emma Okwi if the opposition look ripe for a kill or if The Cranes are trailing with the clock winding down and desperate times calling for desperate measures.

That would mean going for a flat 4-4-2, with Massa and Obua coming off especially should the latter run out of steam due to his injury-plagued season at Hearts, or just having a plain bad day. Mutyaba would then be an option for the left in place of Walusimbi because Sserunkuma and Okwi thrive on service.

Missing out

I still can’t help but think that Hassan Wasswa should have been on this squad.

Williamson’s stance is that he prefers ball-playing midfielders to spoilers, credit to him, but should the game turn into a muscleman’s brawl or simply a pressure situation requiring the midfielders to get stuck in, then I would fancy Wasswa over Mudde any day.

Besides, Wasswa’s versatility is such that he could be cover for Masaba on the right or the central defenders in case of injury or dismissal. Isaac Isinde is the only available sub for three defensive positions, and that state of affairs leaves me puzzled as to why there is no room for a man whose battling skills have been horned in front of hostile Turkish crowds week in, week out.

The opposition

As Kenya and Angola will testify, the Guinea Bissau outfit are a good blend of technique and physical prowess, with the attributes of the archetypal West African player coming together with the skills of a product of the Portuguese youth system as a good many of tonight’s opponents are.

While it is important to know, acknowledge and plan for their strengths, it is imperative that for a psychological lift Williamson and his crew drum into the Cranes players that their opponents have not played as much competitive football on the continent as most of our squad, and play for a country not used to qualifying for major tournaments. There can be no room for fear against these mere mortals.

In lieu with that, Fufa have got to play their part on the incentives and motivational front. While Lawrence Mulindwa has a previously impeccable record of making players happy, his recent efforts (or the lack of them) have tainted that record badly.

Only if it all comes together in a synchronised fit at the right moment can The Cranes break their Match Day Three jinx and Uganda begin to look towards an Afcon finals at long, long last.

AllAfrica – All the Time