Why Cranes beat Guinea Bissau

Mar 30, 2011

FOR the last five years that I have known David Obua, Denis Onyango, Andy Mwesigwa and Ibrahim Sekagya, I had always known them as players with very strong emotions.

By Fred Kaweesi

FOR the last five years that I have known David Obua, Denis Onyango, Andy Mwesigwa and Ibrahim Sekagya, I had always known them as players with very strong emotions.

Not the kind that would drop tears, whatever the occasion.

The times I have known FUFA president Lawrence Mulindwa, I have always regarded him a reserved man. Not the kind of person that would ever sprint uncontrollably around a football pitch, lifting sky-high everybody that stood in his path.

But then again, the five are human, just like coaches Bobby Williamson, Moses Basena, Fred Kajoba, team manager Crispus Muyinda, team doctor Ronald Kisolo and chief de mission Abbas Ssendyowa, who screamed and scampered around the Rino Correira Stadium pitch like kindergarten kids seconds after the Burkina Faso referee had called time on Cranes 1-0 historic win over Guinea Bissau. Emotions simply got the better of them.

Controlling your emotions begins with a deliberate decision to keep composure and emotional restraint at all times. But how was that possible after a result that did not only strengthen Uganda’s prospects of making their first Nations Cup finals appearance since 1978, but one that will subsequently change the face of Ugandan football.

It was Uganda’s first win in CAN qualification in West Africa and one that will prove crucial if Cranes eventually qualify.

It was a magnificent result for Cranes, one in which their all-round strengths made them worthy winners.

The team, fell back on old strengths to defy the odds that ranged from just tactical discipline, work ethic, teamwork to good management and organisation among the backroom staff.

Ideal preps/ organisation
Whatever judgment is passed on the team’s success in Bissau, the story must begin with how the team prepared for this game.

Contrary to the build-ups to previous qualifying matches, for the first time ever, the team held its training camp in a neutral city Dakar, Senegal. And although it was more for financial reasons rather than planning, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

It meant that the foreign-based players travelled for fewer hours and were much fresher both mentally and physically. They found it easier to match the hosts pound for pound despite the discomfort created by the astro turf.

Sendyowa, who had travelled a week earlier as the advance party, excelled in all his assignments. He identified the right hotel, team training base and travel plans in both Dakar and Bissau.

Good manager in Muyinda
How about team manager Muyinda, who brought all the 18 players (local and foreign-based) together, with good management skills. Having worked with most of the players before, Muyinda has been in position to know too well the strengths and weaknesses of each player.

As a former player, he instinctively knows all about player psyche. He has passed his test with the lads, a tough one for a young manager to draw lines between him and the players, enjoying their company, but with limits. They look to him as their second father figure and they comfortably share all their personal problems and secrets.

Bobby’s input
Of course Bobby Williamson is their first father figure. He cared about his players to the smallest detail. He would never start eating unless all his players were present at the dinning table.

When Laszlo Csaba was still Cranes manager, he adopted a dictatorial stance and would not tolerate working with local coaches or home-based players. There has been appreciation for Williamson’s attempts to make an impression on football in the country from the grassroots up, and the willingness to involve himself with Ugandan-based, players and the media for the sake of the country’s, rather than his personal, gain.

I had never attended a game much closer to Bobby than it was in Bissau, where from just a metre away from the bench, all I could hear was: “Brilliant Godfrey (Walusimbi), Go David, go David (Obua), that’s fantastic Tony (Mawejje), you are better Mudde (Musa). Let’s concentrate!

Bobby has given the side precisely what it needed. The Cranes were always technically good but lacked mental awareness and tactical discipline. He chose a strategy and his players stuck to it for 90 minutes.

The backroom staff
These are the guys that did the donkey work —from coaches Basena, Kajoba (goalkeepers) to the doctor Kisolo.

Team performances are based on several factors, not least among their fear of or respect for the coach, that, if the coach does not have the backing of the backroom staff, he loses his authority in the dressing room.

Although Bobby had the final word on everything, Basena and Kajoba had valuable recommendations while Kisolo would randomly check on players to ensure a clean bill of health in the run up to the game.

FUFA boss Mulindwa
It must be said that Mulindwa was also instrumental in the team’s success. He ensured that the players worked in an upright environment. Each would look around the dressing room with no personal resentment over the other. The team’s motivation had been built properly, the bonus structure equally laid out irrespective of who plays where. He related with all players equally and fulfilled his $1500 (sh3.6m) winning bonus promise during the team’s celebrations in cash.

Discipline and togetherness
The simplest reason is often the most important. You can talk for hours about tactics and Obua’s winning goal, but it doesn’t change the fact that discipline played a significant role in Bissau.

The players had rules on punctuality and appreciated the guidelines on what they could and could not do. To them no player was above the other.

From the start, Cranes players pitched in as well as they could, made themselves as much of a team as possible under tough situations.

There was a moment during the game that proved this.

Cranes captain Sekagya was meant to be booked at a certain stage of the game and because this meant he would be suspended for the return game in June, Mwesigwa pleaded with the Burkina Faso referee to book him in place of his captain. He was willing to take up the card to ensure Cranes had their valuable captain for the Kampala leg.

All 11 players were willing to clean up each others’ mess. From Onyango in goal to Obua upfront, everybody worked for the other — Massa and Obua dropping back to defend each time they had to with Tony Mawejje and Mude Musa the strong-minded orchestras in midfield. Sportsmen enjoy golden periods during their careers, and Onyango’s has just started. His penalty save on 72 minutes was golden.

Mental strength
At least each of Cranes’ player received a kick, elbow or rough tackle but not one tried to retaliate. Cranes’ players had lion-hearts and hunger to fight pound for pound, and it worked.



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