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This week marks seven years since September 4th 2016, when a certain budding youngster Faruku Miya shot into national fame by scoring the final goal that broke Uganda Cranes’ 39-year jinx of failing to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Miya burst into the scene to score the lone goal against Comoros that finally ended the almost four decade miss at the continent.
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Uganda had registered several painful near-misses failing the hurdle on the final day since 2008.
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08:48 - 06.09.2023
AFCON 2023 Q Bevis Mugabi eyeing second Africa Cup of Nations appearance with Uganda Cranes
Uganda sit third in Group F and needs to win the game and pray that Algeria beat Tanzania in the other match for any chance to qualification. The match will be played on Thursday night at 10 PM in Marrakech, Morocco.
Near-misses
In the 2008 qualifiers, Uganda missed out on goal difference after emerging second in Group Three that had Nigeria, Lesotho and Thursday’s opponent Niger.
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The Cranes won all their three home games beating a star-studded Nigeria 2-1, Lesotho 3-0 and Niger 3-1 before picking draws against the latter two.
06:40 - 06.09.2023
FOOTBALL How much Uganda Cranes players will pocket for beating Niger
Big matches usually come with big bonuses for the players, and Thursday’s clash with Niger is one of the biggest matches the Cranes will be involved in.
However, their efforts went down the drain losing by a single goal margin to South Africa after tying on 11 points in the best runners-up table.
The story was not any different in the 2010 qualifiers! Uganda finished with 10 points, the same as Angola but, again, lost on goal difference.
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The Angolans failed to qualify due to a poor count as CAF considered results of the top three group teams in their tabulation for the best runners-up. Had Uganda gone through, their record against Group 3 winners Benin and Angola would’ve seen the Cranes at the AFCON.
Most-painful
If the two mentioned qualifiers broke the hearts of the Cranes fans, then 2012 was the worst!
Uganda went into the final day in control of Group J but only needed a win over Kenya to go through. Cranes led with 10 points, one ahead Angola while Kenya was third with eight.
The Kenyans, especially the goalkeeper Arnold Origi, threw the spanner in Cranes' works at Namboole and denied Uganda the win in a goalless draw allowing Angola, who had beaten Guinea-Bissau 2-0 in Bissau to go through.
The 2013 edition was rather straightforward!
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CAF had shifted the tournament from even to odd years to avoid playing AFCON on World Cup years.
Uganda needed to navigate two rounds of four matches but that also ended in tears, like they say.
A convincing 5-3 win on aggregate over Congo to set up a crunch tie against Zambia. Unfortunately, the Cranes once again imploded in the pressure of the post-match kicks and bowed out despite winning the home leg 1-0.
Micho arrives
That loss and other factors around that time ushered in a new era under Moses Magogo in August 2013 . The FUFA boss retained coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic beyond 2015 despite failing to guide the team to the promised land in 2015.
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Micho managed to build a formidable team that had the likes of Denis Onyango, Isaac Isinde, Tonny mawejje, Khalid Aucho, Geoffrey Massa and Faruku Miya.
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However, it was Onyango’s heroics throughout the 2017 qualifying campaign and Miya’s moment of magic that delivered Uganda.
Missing piece
Miya, by then in 2014, was a rookie in the team. He had just joined the Vipers senior team and was already making inroads in the local scene.
Micho chose to use him abundantly in the Nile Special-sponsored Cranes Namutiima regional tours where he scored a couple of goals including his debut against Western select in Mbarara and one in the 2-0 over North East in Soroti June 2014. The team was building up for the failed 2015 qualifiers.
The youngster’s official debut arrived on July 11th, 2014 scoring against Seychelles in a 1-0 win at Lugogo in a friendly and in a 3-0 victory against Ethiopia in November at Namboole.
Miya started in only two matches against Ghana and Guinea in the 2015 qualifiers.
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However, Micho had prepared the young Miya enough for the big stage.
The kid announced himself on the international stage against Nigeria on Wednesday 25th March, 2015 at the Akwa Ibom Stadium.
Miya stole the show on a night that was expected to celebrate one of Africa’s greatest goalkeepers, Vincent Enyeama, scoring a thunderbolt that the Nigerian keeper failed to handle on his 100th appearance in the famous green shirt.
Uganda went on to win 1-0, and Miya’s name started scaling the billboard ratings.
Miya, then 18 years, won the league with Vipers and naed player of the year. He had earlier guided Uganda to the group stage of the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifier scoring thrice in a 4-0 win over Togo. In Miya, Micho had finally found the missing piece to Cranes' qualifying puzzle.
Miya moment
Miya’s moment arrived when least expected! A point where Uganda had failed for nearly four decades.
Uganda Cranes started their qualification campaign for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations on a high with a 2-0 win over Botswana then a 1-0 away to Comoros, lost 1-0 to Burkina Faso away before holding them to a goalless draw at Namboole.
A 2-1 away to Botswana in the penultimate group fixture put Uganda Cranes once again in the driving seat going into the final game against Comoros at Namboole on September 4th, 2016.
Uganda had pushed for an opener but all their efforts wasted away inside the first half-hour.
The next move after this ended in a goal kick. The Comoros keeper cleared a long one which found Murushid Jjuuko in position to head it back. Miya picked it from there and ran through to the box.
His first attempt was parried away but collected by Moses Oloya who calmly laid it back to Miya to bury in! Namboole erupted as Cranes went on to protect the win and qualify.
Uganda made an instant return in 2019 but missed out last year in Cameroon causing a ‘mini-crisis’ of sorts.
This year, the team is said to be undergoing a transition with new lads getting into the picture. Youngster Rogers Mato created his own moment in Dar Es Salaam by scoring the goal that has kept Uganda dreaming as the nation awaits another Miya moment against Niger on Thursday to go back to the AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS!
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10:38 - 05.09.2023
AFCON 2023 Q We need it more - Ochaya rallies support ahead of Uganda versus Niger
Uganda Cranes will face Niger on Thursday 7th, September at the Grand Stadium of Marrakech, Morocco.
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