Uganda Cranes has no philosophy

 

2014 Afcon Qualifiers

 

Uganda 1-0 Ghana

 

 

Guinea v Uganda

 

 

But the reaction of Ugandans to the Cranes’ 1-0 victory against Ghana exposed the general tendency to shift goal posts in the valuation of beauty and hard results.

 

When Leah Kalangula was recently named Miss Uganda, there was no shortage of outrage. Critics were not interested in embracing Kalangula as the beauty queen with a magnetic persona if not necessarily appearance. Kalangula is brilliant, eloquent and full of poise but her detractors insisted beauty is what meets the eye.

 

In Kalangula’s case, substance was not enough. But in the case of the Cranes, it was.

 

There was, to put it kindly, nothing beautiful about Uganda’s performance against Ghana apart from the win. But is anyone complaining? On the contrary, everyone is happy because if the Cranes won, what else matters?

 

For starters, Uganda’s Wednesday’s clash against Guinea. The Marakesh contest is an opportunity for the Cranes to end nearly 40 years of Afcon-nonappearance and typically, there is a lot of talk about Uganda’s chances.

 

But do you seriously expect the Cranes’ strategy of treating the ball like the plague to deliver the Afcon dream?

 

What most people don’t realise is the Cranes are neither a good attacking side nor a good defensive side. They are a team with no philosophical bent and by the way playing-to-win is not a philosophy. It’s a given, like survival is to humans.

 

A philosophy is the means to the end and the Cranes have never had one. In fact, having some kind of philosophy, whether it is pragmatism or purism is arguably the bigger issue, even beyond the classic contrast between substance and style. Because a lot of times a team’s philosophy is determined by abilities of the available players and rigid idealism can result in putting square pegs in round holes.

 

This is what most frustrating about Uganda’s national team setup. It’s what’s responsible for Uganda’s Afcon absence not the Cranes. There’s a huge difference between performing miracles and playing football and thankfully the Cranes’ know it.

 

Fans who expect the Cranes to succeed in our football environment are actually part of the problem because they put the burden of responsibility in the wrong place.

 

Perhaps it is because it is easier to hope every two years that the Cranes will sneak into the Nations Cup rather than waiting for years for some philosophical revolution to produce a golden generation. After all, movement often seems like progress and the two-year Afcon Qualifiers create the impression that the Cranes are going somewhere.  

 

And if the Cranes qualify for the Afcon one of these days, that will tantamount to a lot of progress in eyes of Ugandans. Sad or not, Ugandans don’t really care whether the Cranes pass it or punt it. All they want is to see the Cranes win.  After all, isn’t that what life is all about? Does it matter how much swagger you display in a job interview if you don’t ultimately get the job?

 

Ironically, winning was not enough for Kalangula to get national affection from many of the same Cranes fans. Just like it wasn’t enough for Kalangula’s Biblical namesake in her own quest for love.

 

Perhaps it’s neither style nor substance. Perhaps it’s both. Or perhaps not.