2011 CECAFA SENIOR CHALLENGE: Uganda Champs

You have done Uganda proud. We have forgotten about not qualifying for ACN 2012. Let’s plan ahead and qualify for ACN 2013.

Happy days are back. May FUFA and espeically Bobby learn from his mistakes. He finally got it right in the final by playing Emmanuel “The Real Deal” Okwi with H. Kiiza up front he finally played to their strengths.

The defense was below par (by Uganda Cranes standards). This should be fixed immediately. If these youngsters are exposed on the continent and beyond, happy days will stay for a long time.

Congratulations boys!

Ugandans you are just lucky that the youthful Rwanda scored an own goal.

The Cranes of Uganda have won it a record 12 times now but when did they last qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament? Just shows how weak teams in CECAFA are?

The Cranes almost made it to AFCON Gabon/Equatorial Guinea 2012 but they faltered at the last hurdle. A win at home over Kenya would have been enough. They laid an egg. Uganda 0:0 Kenya. Angola through.

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@Sscouser, I guarantee you that if Uganda had qualified for a Nations Cup, they probably would have gone all the way to the finals just like the last time they bothered to show up.

Qualifying from Africa is not the same as playing in the tournament proper.

@Gabriel Nampinga, Olivier Karekezi is not exactly a young man. Talking about youth, if you take out Andy Mwesigwa and Simeon Masaba, Uganda Crane’s average age drops to about 23 years old. Emma Okwi and Hamis Kizza are example s of youth.

“…the last time they bothered to show up”

When was that? 1978? More than 3 decades ago?

“…if you take out Andy Mwesigwa and Simeon Masaba, Uganda Crane’s average age drops to about 23 years old…”

And if you add them back Uganda Crane’s average age rises to about 36 years old. How old are these guys?

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I can’t believe that the all time best team in CECAFA more often than not fails to qualify for the AFCON finals. Sudan is making a steady progress and will soon overshadow both Uganda and Kenya in the CECAFA region.

The CECAFA region has Ethiopia, by and large the sleeping Giant of African football with huge potential owing to a population of 82M, the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. Botswana are drawn with Ethiopia in the same group for the 2014 WC qualifiers and Ethiopia should be handled with due respect. It remains a Giant in Deep Slumber.

Yes Sudan is making a steady progress but does this Sudan include players from South Sudan? South Sudan became an independent state on the 09th of July 2011. On 24 September 2011, CAF President Issa Hayatou received a delegation from South Sudan.

“CAF President Issa Hayatou reiterated his pride and support to South Sudan, saying that CAF will assist South Sudan and the organisation will send a delegation to the country before the end of this year to assess the facilities on the ground and provide a report to the upcoming CAF General Assembly on February 10th 2012 in Libreville to allow its inclusion as the 54th member association of CAF, in line with articles 4 and 5 of the CAF Statutes.”

Marco, huge potential owing to a population of 82M? Is there a correlation?

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Shortlists for CAF Awards 2011 revealed

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on WednesdayTuesday, December 13, 2011 revealed the final shortlists for the various categories for the CAF Awards 2011.

The shortlists for the 2011 African Player of the Year and 2011 African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) were decided by votes by the Head coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF.

The CAF Technical, Football and Media Committees decided on the choice of shortlists for the other categories taking into account the performance of the nominees from January to November, 2011.

The winners will be unveiled at the Awards Gala scheduled for Thursday, December 22 at the Banquet Hall, State House in Accra. The award ceremony is to reward excellence in African football on and off the pitch.

The shortlisted nominees are (in alphabetical order);

African Player of the Year 2011
(a) Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseille and Ghana)
(b) Samuel Eto’o (Anzhi Makhachkala and Cameroon)
(c) Seydou Keita (Barcelona and Mali)
(d) Moussa Sow (Lille and Senegal)
(e) Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Cote d’Ivoire)

African Player of the Year 2011 (Based in Africa)
(a) Oussama Darragi (Esperance Sportive de Tunis and Tunisia)
(b) Zouhir Dhaouadi (Club Africain and Tunisia)
(c) Banana Yaya (Esperance Sportive de Tunis and Cameroon)

National Team of the Year
(a) Botswana
(b) Cote d’Ivoire
(c) Niger
(d) Tunisia

Club of the Year
(a) Esperance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia)
(b)Maghreb Association Sportive of Fez (Morocco)
(c) Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco)

Most Promising Talent of the Year
(a) Ahmed Elshenawy (El-Masry and Egypt)
(b) Souleymane Coulibaly (Tottenham Hotspurs and Cote d’Ivoire)
(c) Ahmed Musa (VVV Venlo and Nigeria)

Coach of the Year
(a) Harouna Doula (Niger)
(b) Nabil Maaloul (Esperance Sportive de Tunis) – Tunisia
(c) Stanley Tshosane (Botswana)

Legend Award
Mustapha Hadji (Morocco)
Austin ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha (Nigeria)

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National Team of the Year Award will go to Botswana or Niger

African Player of the year 2011 – winner Andre Ayew

African palyer of the yesr (based in Africa)- winner Oussama Darragi

National Team of the year – winner – Botswana (no question about it)

Club of the year – Winner- Esperance

Most promising talent of the year – winner – Ahmed Musa

Coach of the year – Winner – Stanley Tshosane (used his brains as opposed to his ego to take the perinnial underdogs to the upper echelons of African football- A feat that has eluded his predecessors, blacks and whites alike).

Legend Award: Austin Okocha

M. Sichone, yes Botswana or Niger but why Botswana or Niger?

Marco, you think Botswana will win (no question about it)? Just because the Zebras were the first ones to qualify?

Stanley Tshoshane coach of the year (used his brains as opposed to his ego to take the perinnial underdogs to the upper echelons of African football)? Niger were not underdogs?

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