Maybe we should not worry too much

Luwagga is one of the players expected to calm the team’s nerves at Afcon. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO

I was invited to a football talk show on Nairobi’s Citizen TV earlier this week to speak about the Cranes chances at Afcon. I was surprised to find other Ugandans on set who all predicted we were going to bring home the cup. This sounded very un-Ugandan because even if nothing draws Ugandans together like the Cranes, we rarely give ourselves a chance to succeed.

We typically start our qualification campaigns with high hopes and end them with dampened spirits. Even if like in the latest one, we qualify ahead of the last game we can’t stop ourselves from worrying whether we deserve it, wasn’t our qualification group too easy? What if we end up in a group of death, which we did – and why do we still select players who have hardly played a competitive game in the last 7 months?

Relaxing is really hard work for us, isn’t it? Personally, I think the moment we qualify, we idealize becoming champions and the unlikeliness of it all ends us stressing us out. Of course, things aren’t helped when we kick off our preparations with a selection that demonstrates the kind of nervousness that fans the fires of doubt.

Without taking risks, opportunities are missed, new talents will remain untasted and stars will not be born; it’s the African Cup of Nations, not the East and Central Africa Challenge Cup. We are not going to win so quickly and surprisingly. So why not populate our team with fresh and fearless faces with nothing to lose and a lot of adventure in their bellies. Take the chance. And then who knows.

But as will happen, we will figure out we did not need to play it safe. That’s right, we may be underdogs, but I prefer that we are the kind that show up in a unique way and not just set up to prevent an alleged catastrophe. This tension is what makes us the fans fear for the worst. If we were brave enough no amount of beating would shock us. Right?

Meanwhile, we will sit and think about what can go wrong? Who should or shouldn’t have been on that team; and whether all those boys who play abroad and whose form we can’t vouch for, will deliver?

Do you see now? Do you understand how exhausting it is to be a Uganda Cranes fan at a major tournament with anxiety, doubt and esteem issues? This is who we are. We worry too much about stuff that we can’t change.

But look, we have done well to get here, two back to back finals. We are never going to play at the level of Senegal. Not yet. Even they took time to build their current capacity. So, If I could choose an attitude for us to carry into Cairo it would be to be carefree. No, we won’t win the thing like my colleagues in the Citizen TV Studio felt, but we can at least unburden ourselves off perceived expectations and unrealistic fear.

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