The under-17s World Cup berth provokes a nation

The national under-17 boys football team returned to the country yesterday to a sumptuous breakfast at the Sheraton Hotel.

This was after their 2-1 victory over The Gambia on the weekend at the Africa under-17 championship in Morocco. This saw them secure a berth to the Fifa under-17 World Cup in Qatar due in November this year. It is the first time that Uganda will be playing at any Fifa World Cup.

Therefore, this feat should place the under-17 team in the indelible history pages of Ugandan football. But fittingly the excitement this World Cup berth has stirred, this has provoked a nation into more proaction.

Fufa’s Paul Mukatabala, the National Teams manager noted with delight that these players proved that as a country, there is raw talent that can compete. This under-17 team is an eye-opener to an opportunity that Uganda has got to cease for the greater good of the game.

Mukatabala noted that a player like James Bogere is undoubtedly a natural goalscorer. Yet, under the circumstances, Uganda continues to grapple with the lack of goals at international level. So, how Bogere and company move forward after this surprising success will be crucial.

It should be noted, that Bogere, together with Hamza Ssengooba and Elvis Torach have been nurtured at the El Cambio Academy, an institution that imparts both the academic and football bit to these players.

At the age of 16 and below, the players at El Cambio have got an opportunity to play football at least for three hours everyday, it is said. That is not necessarily the case for a number of their peers that play football.

Most schools in the country do not harmonize playing football with academics well enough. In the end, so much talent has gone to waste as a result, because they have not got enough playing time during their formative years.

Without a doubt, even as Moses Magogo, the Fufa president will be celebrating endlessly another piece of success, clearly to his credit, the danger ahead, is such being a one-off.

Last year, during the launch of the Fifa for schools programme, one question that was directed to him, was how he would ensure that the schools programme fits in well to help emerging footballers thrive without compromising their born talent.

While Magogo tried to answer that they were going to put the issue before government, by highlighting best practices across the globe, it remains an elephant in the room. It is unlikely that Uganda can sustainably produce good footballers unless they access enough practice and game time from a young age.

But where their academics run from 6am to 6pm, and only play the odd tournament, success on the field can only be a flash in the pan. That means, making it a habit appearing at the underage Fifa competitions should be the focus.

Rwanda made it there in 2014 and never returned since, which points to the one-off appearances few would want, as Tom Damulira a football analyst noted. Going to the Fifa World Cup is expected to open doors for Uganda’s under-17s.

But Damulira said that can only happen if Uganda is ever present there. Continuity builds the confidence of scouts across the football world. But Mukatabala added that seeing that even this current under-17 team has no natural left-back is a pointer to a bigger problem.

The scouting is limited, yet Uganda has so many young footballers across the country. But Mukatabala is not oblivious of the fact that scouting needs resources. In West Africa, countrywide clinics are organized, and the sieving is done to get the best.

Yet, when Uganda’s under-17 midfield was without Abubaker Walusimbi and Brian Ijara, who failed the MRI scans, the team looked bare. But that must never be the case if indeed a strong football foundation is to be built.