NAKED TRUTH: Can Put put Uganda Cranes Right?
Johnson Musinguzi Byarabaha
GRAND ENTRY
After a long break, I am back from the dug out to compliment what other good Ugandans are doing to our football and sports in general.
On May 1st 2024, after looking for tickets from left and right, I drove to Mandela National Stadium Namboole for the double header between BuL Vs SC Vipers and Kasasiro boys KCCA Vs SC Villa. This also marked the reopening of the stadium after some years of closure for a forced renovation (FIFA/CAF had banned it).
After two hours plus in the traffic gridlock, I landed at the ‘new main gate’ (closer to the Kampala Northern bypass first interchange at Bweyogerere. The policeman who looked friendly asked me to first go and buy a ticket as there was no ticket kiosk at the place.
Tired from the traffic mess,I drove back to my office and to hell with the day’s events at Namboole.
Just last week, to be precise, June 7th 2024, I missed the Uganda Cranes 1 – 0 win against ‘weak’ Botswana. I watched on TV and promised to catch the Monday game (June 10th 2024) against the fancied Desert Foxes of Algeria.
This time, I got my ticket early with an accompanying parking sticker so as not to get a ‘still birth’ like it happened on Labour Day.
With a colleague, it was a grand entry for us! No checks on the first gate (New Main Gate) and then before the second main gate entry,we were directed to a lower parking area.
We then walked and entry was quite easy with ticket scans before and at the entrance.
The guy scanning before entry was quite overwhelmed as he struggled to put back the phone for a fresh scan for each ticket.
Into the stadium, stewards helped to locate seat numbers of tickets but here, most fans struggled as we are not used to order!
The atmosphere was electric…and you could see that the stadium was almost there.
Stewards faced fans, grounds men in the stadium were fine tuning it( uncharacteristic of the ‘old’ Namboole)! I hope we keep the standard. You could think the turf was artificial! Flood lights were not blinking…Score board perfect showing everything as game started eg time, scorers’ names and substitutes etc. It was perfect.
THE GAME
Our boys started off well by pressing and this left the Algerians in a very bad shape. With the stadium packed with accompanying cheers etc the North Africans were completely lost. No wonder the Egypt based start, Travis Mutyaba (Zamalek Sc) was on the mark to bury them on 11th minute against ‘confused’ goalkeeper Anthony Manderea.
Most fans in the VIP section, especially Platinum members missed almost the first 10 minutes as security tried to rearrange the sitting as the First Lady and Minister of Education, Mrs Janet Museveni was in the ‘house’.
We moved on and Steven Mukwala could have added a second one had his effort not gone a few inches wide. The goal keeper, Manderea had been well beaten.
Our boys enjoyed a lionshare of possession in the midfield and on the edge of Algerian box…Ronald Sekiganda with crucial blocks..Mutyaba, Rogers Mato and Bobosi with Bayo and Mukwala were shy on adding more goals.
Algerians also had their moments but were easily neutralized by the defence and goal keeper/captain Isima Watenga. The Algerians with experience ofSaid Benrahma (Westham), Nabil Bantaleb(Lille), experienced Baghdad Bounedjah (Al Sadd, Qatar), Aouar Houssem (AS Roma) etc were clearly contained in the first half although they ‘kissed’ the crossbar.
At one point, their coach, Vladimir Petkovic ‘slept’ on his seat as he watched his side getting rattled.
Even our own Paul Put sat and relaxed instead of utilizing the time our boys had momentum.
Little did we know that Petkovic had ‘entanda’ for us in the second half?
SECOND HALF
It was a surprise like lightening as fans were resuming their seats. The Algerians struck from the left wing and the ball went through.
Halidi Lwaliwa got the better of it but later allowed the Algerian to pick it from him as he thought he had been fouled. Into the box and equalizer. That silenced everyone except a handful of Algerian fans. They kept pressing us with a great pace and we started faltering and failing to clear our lines as Put remained put!
We had good moments in their box resulting in several corner kicks and possible penalties but we could not lead neither level matters.
The stroke that broke the camel’s back was the counter attack resulting from a blocked corner kick and a goal from Westham winger Said Benrahma! Again our defenders were flat footed. Dead silence. Put was put in a difficult situation as his substitutes failed to match those done by his counterpart. One wonders whether our coaches studied this Algerian side very well. Did they review their videos etc? Does Put and his coaching team understand our players or is it work in progress? If it is the latter, then we should focus on that and forget the better showing on this World Cup stage.
We can beat Botswana, Somalia, but we will struggle against Guinea and Mozambique like we have done against foxes.
UGANDA CRANES SUPPORTERS
Dear supporters, thank you for showing up. Many walked from and back to Mukono, Ntinda,Kawempe, Nalya etc. The train service (although ancient) came in handy and this should continue.
Let’s keep hope alive and look forward to more exciting encounters at Namboole.
X (Twitter) @jbyarabaha
WhatsApp: 0753444747
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