Why Cranes will make Ghana?
Sep 08, 2007
EXPECTATIONS have never been higher! I can’t recall a build-up to a Nations Cup qualifier so promising like the one certain to have the Uganda Cranes make their first finals appearance since 1978.
FRED KAWEESI
EXPECTATIONS have never been higher! I can’t recall a build-up to a Nations Cup qualifier so promising like the one certain to have the Uganda Cranes make their first finals appearance since 1978.
It has all been excitement, laced with tension but imagine the mayhem if Ibrahim Sekagya and teammates beat Niger to ensure a Nations Cup berth next year. On the evidence of events, there are five sound reasons that suggest Uganda will finish the enormous task it launched with a 3-0 thumping of Lesotho last year.
1.Sekagya’s change of attitude
The Cranes skipper’s unsually early presence in camp on Thursday was a powerful statement that this game means more than all past Cranes matches combined.
The flamboyant defender seems to be aware that the 90 minutes today could still be career-defining to a host of Cranes’ cream plying the proffesional trade.
2. Csaba’s impulsive tools
Anyone who has closely followed Laszlo Csaba’s motivation tools in the build-up to today’s game will be left in no doubt that Cranes have the fire power to obliterate Niger and secure that desired ticket.
The German has handled his team’s groundwork with tact and there is a general feeling of goodwill towards the team now – as was before Nigeria. He has won friends for Cranes at a time when they needed friends but has to win matches and the first of those is today against Niger. At Jokas Hotel, Bweyogerere where the team resides, the warmth of the locals has helped fuel belief among Csaba’s charges that this could be their time to make history.
3. Right age bracket
Cranes’ previous historic run over African giants Nigeria, presented evidence that the assembly of players paraded in the team’s ranks had finally come of age.
While the phrase ‘now or never’ would be hyperbolic, several appearances for most players, seems to have gelled them and if the concept of making history was not to stir them, then nothing ever will. The age structure is not far from ideal.
A host of the team’s players are in their late twenties and exceptionally accustomed to top-notch competition.
4. Massa’s instinctive nature.
Massa will constitute Cranes’ main path to glory. The Jomo Cosmos striker has been in irrepressible mood, since Cranes launched its Nations Cup qualifying campaign last year.
Besides merely causing panic in the opposition defences that have in the process withered under the strain of his masterful performances, he has often changed the tides of certain matches.
Against Nigeria, he proved himself a player of breathtaking pace, grace and power to suggest that will continue to make the difference today.
5. Niger are such bad travelers
Niger’s away match-phobia could be the gateway to Cranes’ victory. The Mena have won just one qualifier at home - 2-0 against Lesotho and yet stumbled away 3-1 in Maseru and Lesotho and 2-0 against Nigeria. Uganda should also bank on Niger being easily intimidated. Their disastrous outing in Maseru was a good point. On that occasion, Niger took one look at the vociferous crowd and the points went down the drain.
5. Csaba’s game plan
Since the campaign started, he chose specific game plans and stuck to them, with his supreme confidence pervading the entire side. The German has through the previous games kept his charges in line without tinkering unnecessarily. He has given the side precisely what it needed. The Cranes were always technically good but lacked mental awareness.
EXPECTATIONS have never been higher! I can’t recall a build-up to a Nations Cup qualifier so promising like the one certain to have the Uganda Cranes make their first finals appearance since 1978.
It has all been excitement, laced with tension but imagine the mayhem if Ibrahim Sekagya and teammates beat Niger to ensure a Nations Cup berth next year. On the evidence of events, there are five sound reasons that suggest Uganda will finish the enormous task it launched with a 3-0 thumping of Lesotho last year.
1.Sekagya’s change of attitude
The Cranes skipper’s unsually early presence in camp on Thursday was a powerful statement that this game means more than all past Cranes matches combined.
The flamboyant defender seems to be aware that the 90 minutes today could still be career-defining to a host of Cranes’ cream plying the proffesional trade.
2. Csaba’s impulsive tools
Anyone who has closely followed Laszlo Csaba’s motivation tools in the build-up to today’s game will be left in no doubt that Cranes have the fire power to obliterate Niger and secure that desired ticket.
The German has handled his team’s groundwork with tact and there is a general feeling of goodwill towards the team now – as was before Nigeria. He has won friends for Cranes at a time when they needed friends but has to win matches and the first of those is today against Niger. At Jokas Hotel, Bweyogerere where the team resides, the warmth of the locals has helped fuel belief among Csaba’s charges that this could be their time to make history.
3. Right age bracket
Cranes’ previous historic run over African giants Nigeria, presented evidence that the assembly of players paraded in the team’s ranks had finally come of age.
While the phrase ‘now or never’ would be hyperbolic, several appearances for most players, seems to have gelled them and if the concept of making history was not to stir them, then nothing ever will. The age structure is not far from ideal.
A host of the team’s players are in their late twenties and exceptionally accustomed to top-notch competition.
4. Massa’s instinctive nature.
Massa will constitute Cranes’ main path to glory. The Jomo Cosmos striker has been in irrepressible mood, since Cranes launched its Nations Cup qualifying campaign last year.
Besides merely causing panic in the opposition defences that have in the process withered under the strain of his masterful performances, he has often changed the tides of certain matches.
Against Nigeria, he proved himself a player of breathtaking pace, grace and power to suggest that will continue to make the difference today.
5. Niger are such bad travelers
Niger’s away match-phobia could be the gateway to Cranes’ victory. The Mena have won just one qualifier at home - 2-0 against Lesotho and yet stumbled away 3-1 in Maseru and Lesotho and 2-0 against Nigeria. Uganda should also bank on Niger being easily intimidated. Their disastrous outing in Maseru was a good point. On that occasion, Niger took one look at the vociferous crowd and the points went down the drain.
5. Csaba’s game plan
Since the campaign started, he chose specific game plans and stuck to them, with his supreme confidence pervading the entire side. The German has through the previous games kept his charges in line without tinkering unnecessarily. He has given the side precisely what it needed. The Cranes were always technically good but lacked mental awareness.