Uganda leaves AFCON with grace

Uganda took a graceful bow out of AFCON 2019 at the hands of Senegal but the haunting will not stop for Egypt, Cameroon and Morocco; all football giants on the continent, who by their usual high standards, exited the stage, disgracefully.

Egypt's last 16 dramatic defeat to South Africa was ignominious, Morocco's shock loss to Benin distressing and Cameroon's failure to make the quarterfinals underwhelming.

Such has been the story at the 32nd edition of AFCON in Egypt. To the extent that it's unfancied Uganda, Benin, Madagascar and South Africa who will live lasting impression on a tournament where Cameroon, Ghana, DR Congo, Morocco and Mali were expected to be part of the lead party in lighting up the tournament, Egypt 2019 has been inglorious.

Cranes, the beacon of the group stage, finally succumbed to the demands of top football when Senegal put in a highly professional performance to eject them from in the round of 16 with a 1-0 scoreline.

Sebastian Desabre's team let their guard drop when they went on a one day strike for money before the Senegal encounter. They never crossed the Rubicon as they failed to regain their composure mentally after.

From the captain Dennis Onyango who was lucky to twice survive a straight send off after unusually displaying a rough edge about his game, to midfield anchor Khalid Aucho, centre back Hassan Wasswa, striker Emmanuel Okwi and left wing back Godfrey Walusimbi, several key Cranes players seemed unbalanced.

They focused more on roughing up their opponents than playing their normal game. The cautions and bookings - too many to keep record - prevented the Cranes from establishing a smooth game flow to set themselves up for possible victory.

The lack of composure, rush of blood and fear of Africa's most highly ranked team are the three intangible factors that eventually led to Uganda's exit.

Yet, even in their worst element, they were able to pick moments when they pushed Senegal to the rafters forcing coach Alio Cisse to acknowledge; "we were lucky to beat a very difficult opponent in Uganda." Respect.

Led by Liverpool's Sadio Mane, Senegal survived Uganda's scare only because they kept their composure throughout, fully believing that their less experienced opponents would buckle in the face of pressure.

That same approach again saw Senegal upstage another tournament dark horse- Benin - in the quarterfinals.

The Cranes journey in the group stage will be remembered for their historic win over the Democratic Republic of Congo and dominance of Egypt.

The outstanding individual performances of Onyango, Okwi, Abdul Lumala, Aucho and to some extent, Farouk Miya was just the icing.

The surprise ‘mutual consent' departure of hugely impactful French coach Desabre immediately after the Cranes interest in the tournament had ended, is for many Ugandans perhaps the only bitter pill.

Desabre is the reason why Uganda has been a pleasure to watch in Egypt and why several players were able to raise their game. He instilled belief, gave the players freedom and helped them mature. No surprise therefore that he was snapped up by an Egyptian club soon after.

The failure of Uganda to make the quarterfinals did not stop Benin, Madagascar and South Africa to pull off shock wins in the last 16.

South Africa's 1-0 win over Egypt will go down as the biggest shock of the tournament and when they eventually fell to Nigeria's Super Eagles in the quarters with a similar scoreline, few at home complained.

The premature exit of defending champions Cameroon was fortunately on account of Nigeria - three-time champions. A different story from DR Congo who couldn't raise their game to beat lowly Madagascar.

Top seed Senegal, who meet Nigeria in the semi-finals, are seeking their first ever AFCON trophy, but they are not necessarily favourites. Their story could follow Ghana who tearfully fell to Tunisia in the round of 16. The Black Stars have seen their dream to win an elusive fifth trophy, disappear in smoke.

The Super Eagles' quest for a fourth AFCON title, could be enough motivation to frustrate the trophy-less Senegalese.

Algeria were the outstanding performers until the quarterfinals with the quality of Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez, the key.

Their date with the underwhelming Ivory Coast was always going to be an intriguing one. Egypt 2019 has largely disappointed in the quality. Madagascar and South Africa-out of the tournament already-were technically the most pleasing teams to the eye.

Senegal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana have pleased in spasms, while Tunisia as always remained unpredictable.

Goals too, have been hard to come by while it's hard to remember special moments from European based stars like Mohammed Salah, Wilfried Zaha, Andre Ayew, Adamah Traore.

But for Egypt's Trezeguet earlier group performances, no single individual has lit up the tournament.