Fufa president Moses Magogo has demanded an inquest into the shoddy performance that was Uganda Cranes’ final Afcon qualifier against Tanzania Taifa Stars at the National Main Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Magogo also wants coaches, led by Sebastien Desabre, to explain their selections and tactics but not before the match.
The Cranes succumbed to a 3-0 loss following goals from Simon Msuva, Erasto Nyoni and Aggrey Morris, to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals for the first time since 1980.
Cranes keeper and captain, Dennis Onyango had, before this sixth qualifier, not conceded a goal in 450 minutes but saw Msuva’s goal fly past him in the 21 minute.
The win meant Tanzania became the fourth team from the CECAFA region to qualify for for 2019 Afcon after Uganda, Kenya and Burundi who qualified on Saturday for the first time.
In the aftermath, Uganda Cranes’ fans took to social media to insinuate that Magogo and Co had ‘sold’ the game to the Taifa Stars for billions of shillings, seeing that players such as Emmanuel Okwi, Chrizistom Ntambi and Farouk Miya barely put a foot right.
But Magogo feigned lack of knowledge about the said accusations, saying he too was ‘disappointed’.
“This is the worst result of the Uganda Cranes in my administration. No one can feel more disappointed than me. As administration we provided everything the technical team and players wanted,” he wrote in statement shared by his handlers across various social media platforms.
“We therefore all ought to understand the following facts: All allowances and outstanding bonuses were fully paid before the match. Two. The coach asked for a camp in Egypt, we provided it. Three. The coach has full independent hand to select the team including the lineup. We have and will never interfere with the team callup and lineup,” Magogo continued with his rant.
“Four. Bonuses of Shs9.2 million per player for the win and Shs5.5million for a 0-0 draw were announced before the match of Tanzania.”
Despite National Council of Sports not providing the funds required, the FUFA Administration mobilized funds and cleared everything outstanding before the match, Magogo says.
“I want to listen to any explanation why it is not the coach and the team responsible for this dismal performance but the FUFA President and/or the administration. We are also football fans hurt by the bad results. We are also football fans sometimes in disagreement with the decisions of the coaches but we support them because they are the most technical. Now is the time for the coaches to explain their selections and tactics but not before the match,” he said.
The 2019 Afcon tournament featuring 24 teams will be held in Egypt between June 21 – July 1.
The draws for the group stages will take place on Friday, April 12.
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