By George Katongole
The Uganda Cranes’ campaign to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was intended to force a major breakthrough for the East African giants.
It began vibrantly, with the return of Serbian coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic, who had guided Uganda to the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations finals in 39 years when they qualified for the 2017 tournament in Gabon.
He replaced Northern Irishman Johnny Mckinstry, who was sacked in March as Uganda stood second on the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, with two games to go.
The trio of Abdallah Mubiru, Livingstone Mbabazi and goalkeeping coach Fred Kajoba took care of the remaining group games as Mali took the top spot.
The failed Africa Cup of Nations painfully hurt and hope was in the World Cup where Mali, Kenya and Rwanda stood.
But the feeble Cranes were unable to force a way through the group and an opportunity to the final qualifying round became just a statistic as Mali completed the job with a game to spare.
Scoring just three goals summed up Uganda’s campaign. The Cranes finished second with nine points managing two wins and three draws, losing once.
Uganda started their campaign with a goalless draw away to Kenya before a similar score at home to Mali at St Mary’s Stadium Kitende.
The East Africans followed up with back-to-back matches against Rwanda, winning both games by a goal.
Another 1-1 draw with Kenya rendered the final game against Mali a dead rubber fixture as Mali already had 13 points against Uganda’s nine.
Despite a spirited fight in the second half, the Ugandans failed to break Mali’s shaky defence. The West Africans lived dangerously, but Kalifa Coulibaly’s 19th minute strike ensured they progressed unbeaten.
More game woes
In between the battle, Micho was already doomed when a South African court found him guilty of incidents that happened in December 2020. By then, he was coaching the Zambian national team.
With a ban hanging over Kenya’s head for state interference, Micho talked of getting the “result we want” as Uganda went to Agadir in Morocco, Mali’s temporary home.
“Our target is to finish strongly and if we have any elements of calculation, we put ourselves in a good situation,” the Serb said.
The Uganda Cranes have not become a bad team overnight, so what might be behind Saturday’s performance and result?
Micho was unable to find a piece of magic to help his team in front of goal. Most fans were expecting Murushid Jjuuko to play against Mali but he was ignored as Fufa demanded he pay for his own sins.
Jjuuko had been fined by FIFA Shs 20m for misconduct in a game against Rwanda but FIFA asked him to pay the fine.
Everyone knows the value of a settled defence and so it was perhaps little surprise that two games Jjuuko missed saw the defence breached.
Bobosi Byaruhanga, Khalid Aucho and Moses Waiswa all have their strengths and have dovetailed well.
However, neither of them managed to exert their influence during the campaign where Micho was mostly defence-minded.
It is noticeable that the intensity in the middle of the park has ebbed away since creative-minded players Faruku Miya and Michael Azira have been out of the team.
Shafiq Kagimu can probably count himself unfortunate not to feature for the team. The URA midfielder might have helped Cranes compete more in the middle of the park.
Ultimately, the disastrous campaign leaves for us the helpless, hopeless fix.
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