Power outage interrupts Cranes - Guinea game

By James Bakama

Group E
Africa Cup of Nations
Uganda 2 Guinea 0

Uganda’s first continental match under floodlights came with good fortune.

The Cranes beat Guinea’s Syli Nationale on a cold night to go top of their group in the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers.

An afternoon downpour seemed to come with good luck as Geoffrey Massa maintained his perfect scoring record with a brace.

But the otherwise great night was undermined by a power cut that had the second half interrupted by a ten minute blackout.

There were frantic efforts to restore the power. Amongst those in the dark was Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, Army Commander Katumba Wamala, Minister for Kampala and the Presidency Frank Tumwebaze and Mufti of Uganda Shaban Mubajje.

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The power was eventually restored and the Cranes as the Cranes marched to victory.

The celebrations were heightened by news from news from the other group game.

“Togo 2 Ghana 3,” master of ceremony Patrick Luwandagga announced to wild cheers from the close to 25,000 people.

For a midweek match, this attendance, the biggest so far this year, was impressive.

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There were traffic jams on the Kampala-Jinja highway just like in the other access route through Bugolobi and Kinawataka. As usual boda bodas, the most adoptable mode of transport, had a field day.

Matters were at Namboole not helped by late opening of the gates. Poor crowd management at the entry points also didn’t help the situation. One of the gates was in the process broken.

Shrewd dealers rushed to get tickets from those dashing in and resold them. Security officers in the process caned numerous people.

The partying continued into the night.  Cranes sponsors Airtel and Nile Breweries had a stadium party in stock for the spectaors.

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Victoria Bar in Kireka was another spot to be as fans thronged there not only for a drink, but also dance.

Traders of merchandise like Cranes’ jerseys were hurt by the late kick-off.  “It’s hard to sell at night.  A lot of people simply walked past,” complained a trader.

The idea of having the match at night was welcomed by many. They however wished that it had been a weekend.

“We would have had a full house on a Saturday, then we could have partied throughout the night and the following day,” said Bweyogerere  resident Jonathan Okello.

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The last time Uganda had a night international match was in 2012 in the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup. Uganda emerged champions after beating Kenya in the final.

The usual fanfare that usually has people partying hours before the match was missing. People instead seemed to flood Namboole an hour to kick-off.

The midweek schedule follows a squeeze in the qualification to the Morocco 2015 Nations Cup finals.

World soccer governing body FIFA and its continental affiliates like CAF are making use of the gazetted international match days, which are normally midweek to speed up the qualification.

Ordinarily, these matches should have started late last year spanning a year, but most of this period was taken up by the World Cup.
Qualifiers to next year’s tournament will as a result be played over three months.

Uganda’s last group match against Guinea away will also be away.