AFCON qualifier: Uganda 0 Togo 1

AFCON QUALIFIERS: GROUP E

Uganda   0    Togo   1  (Donou Konou 30')

Guinea  1 (Traore 81')    Ghana  1   (Gyan  27')

By Joseph Kizza

Togo resuscitated their hopes of making it to the Africa Nations Cup finals in Morocco after beating Uganda at Namboole Stadium in a match earlier singled out as a make-or-break tie for the West Africans.

Tchanile Tchakala knew the task ahead for his traveling side, and losing to hosts Uganda Cranes was nowhere near their immediate plans after The Sparrow Hawks had come in for their third Group E match on the back of two defeats against Ghana and Guinea.

Uganda on the other hand had started with a two-game unbeaten streak, only to concede a first in this contention and now lie in second place of the group after Guinea held Ghana to a 1-1 draw later on Saturday. With three games played so far for all, Ghana tops Group E with 5 points, Uganda follows with 4 points, Guinea close behind with 4 points as well and Togo settled back to rock-bottom with 3 points.

After a brilliant start to the campaign for The Cranes, holding Ghana away and beating Guinea at home, belief was high for the hosts, but half-an-hour into the game, the visitors took the lead, thanks to a Donou Kokou strike.

The locally-based Togolese defender, who plays for Maranatha, outran Godfrey Walusimbi to a deliciously placed pass down from the left, sending a heavy ball past home keeper Dennis Onyango, ripping through the net in the process.

Uganda next travels to Togo for Wednesday’s return leg.

While the home fans and the players, captained by Andrew Mwesigwa, felt the disappointment weigh down on them, all hope is but lost. The Cranes have played only half their group games and after traveling to Togo next week, they will be left with a home game against Ghana and another away clash with Guinea.

What coach Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic needs to inject in his boys is the will to score goals – and as many goals as possible – as in determining the top two teams to make it out of the group, goal difference could play a crucial role.

It is the goal-scoring aggressiveness that deserted The Cranes against Togo and that deficit in front of goal was worsened by the sloppiness at the back. In truth,The Sparrow Hawks could have added to their important lead in the first half but were outdone by talisman Emmanuel Adebayor’s rare ineffectiveness.

The Tottenham Hotspur attacker, who arguably was the centre of attraction for the highly English Premier League-keen Ugandan football fans, proved lethal at times upfront but he was clearly short of the effervescence he is well revered for. 

The lanky Togo captain, sometimes making dangerous runs goalwards, was impressively kept at bay by his opposite Mwesigwa who had to deal with Adebayor’s superior height.

Micho made early changes as the game rolled on and his reforms seemed to have worked well to bring the hosts back into a commanding position coming into the second half, a phase of the game that saw many squandered chances on the part of Uganda. For long periods, they mounted pressure on Togo, who were clearly in a defiant mood to let slip their lead on a hot afternoon inside a densely-packed Namboole Stadium.

Once, Emmanuel Okwi blasted a free-kick over the bar 25 yards out, as did Geoffrey Massa see many of his opportunities go to waste.

And just when the late pressure seemed to produce an equalizer, Kenyan referee Davies Ogenche Omweno blew the final whistle, much to the relief of coach Tchanile Tchakala and his boys.

For the home crowd and team, it was a defeat compounded by the fact that a 10-year-long well-preserved unbeaten home record was finally brought to a disappointing end. Before the Togo tie, Uganda had not been beaten in any competitive game at Namboole for a decade, since a defeat to South Africa back in 2004.