Flair, text book stuff, basics
and a unique culture are crucial to any major achievement. The trick though is
how well balanced a team is and how much consistence it exudes on the big stage.
That achieved, what separates the big boys from the crowd of wannabes is the ‘X’
factor and how much of it one has has stocked up.
If we are to demystify the UCU
Canons progress over the last five or so years, it is one team I think has a
lot of potential to dominate the league. Given the unmatched basketball court
at the Mukono Campus, a pool of students to choose from; and the opportunity to
provide scholarships to outstanding players. Credit where it is due, I think
there has been a fair outsourcing of impeccable international players who do a
decent job in institutional tournaments and regular league games (most of the
time). There is a rare passion and flair to look forward to whenever the canons
are playing.
Problem though is, in big
games, there is always an emotional haze to muddle through, a sort of juvenile
inferiority complex and inconsistence. The winning attitude gets trodden on by
more experienced opponents yet on average the university side always seems to
have more ammunition up their sleeves- youthful agility and all.
The bigger problem for me though has always been on the reliance on a thin squad. When a particular on-form player gets fouled out, it is hard to find an equally efficient replacement off the bench. There appears to be a misplacement of strategy to the extent that apart from scholarships there is not much incentive earmarked to keep a hold of the best players once they are done with school. It was not a great sight, watching Affidra sink our team and the mighty Suudi Ulanga failing to make double figures. I am a great fun of this Mukono side but I do not always look forward to the play offs….I always hope we win them but I am never surprised when we do not, I hope Nick and Rev Ssenyonyi see my point (bleachers’ version.) At the end of the day it goes back to what one sets out to achieve, but I would like to suggest that real glory is not such a bad idea.
Mr. Wenger is such a formidable manager but sometimes one’s ideology can be one’s undoing especially when one is oblivious to a change in tide. It is good to have French players on your team but bear in mind that it is no longer France ’98 and none of those players it Zidane, Trezeguet, Ribery or Henry anymore. It could be that you think some players are overpriced but that only plays out if you can actually develop a team of only Van Persies and actually manage to hold on to them. Otherwise, forget about ever seeing a Ronaldo, Messi or Neymar putting on an arsenal Jersey unless of course they have exchanged shirts after a champions league game.
My dear Uganda Cranes, it has
been over thirty years but we are still hoping arithmetics will throw us an
ace. We send the Nile to the Pharaohs for crying out loud. Ok, we have one
stadium and a half (in case Nakivubo counts), we win CECAFA, we beat Kenya most
of the time and we seldom lose at Namboole. Maybe government does not invest adequately in sports, maybe FUFA is run by one family, maybe we can fire and hire coaches at will; maybe we have a coaching team of seven wannabes per game…..I do not give two hoots, just qualify for one major tournament and we can talk. Learn from Kiprotich and his Kip buddies.
I will not talk about the
extremely overrated English team because at least Brazil is still making me
proud…ish. The big stage requires something fresh on the menu, some sort of
resilience…it is hard ball, it is not a junior league. Funs endure a lot of silent
torture and it is understandable but do they have to? Just wondering why some
teams are always content with being the undercard when they can be so much
more. 
Over to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment