Is it end of an era for Okwi? 

Not so many keen followers of national team football, realistically expected Uganda Cranes to defeat Algeria on Sunday June 18 in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at Japoma stadium in Douala, Cameroon.

Uganda went down 2-1 to an already-qualified Algeria in a result that left Cranes staring at another failed campaign to reach the Afcon finals. The Cranes also missed out on the 2021 Afcon, after appearing at the 2017 and 2019 tournaments in Gabon and Egypt respectively.

However, as with every national team failure, the inquest begins in earnest. The future of coach Micho Sredojevic has been called into question, never mind that Cranes could still qualify for next year’s Afcon tournament.

Since Micho’s reappointment in August 2021, the Cranes have only managed six goals in 11 qualification games, both in the World Cup and Africa Cup. They have only won three times during that time.

Yet, since it is not Micho that plays the game, some of the players have not been spared either. In fact, the quick targets being those who have appeared in the national team jersey longest. The captain of the team Emmanuel Okwi, 30, has been a dedicated servant of the Cranes since 2009, when he made his debut.

But right now, he is in the twilight of his career. Having clocked 93 caps, Okwi is now a seasoned campaigner in Cranes colours; a veteran.

But since September 2019, soon after Johnathan McKinstry made his competitive home debut as Cranes coach, which was against Malawi, Okwi has not scored an international goal. Yet, Okwi’s game was never entirely about goals back then. He was the kind of player who easily beat his marker with good dribbling ability and pace.

That made him quite creative, too. To make sense of how good Okwi has been over the years, he was once on the radar of Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.

His decision not to join Red Bull provided an opportunity for a certain Senegalese player, Sadio Mane, to join instead. Notably, before then, Werder Bremen of Germany had interest in him, too, as was Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa. Needless to mention, Okwi also played at Etoile du Sahel in Tunisia, when he left Tanzanian side, Simba SC, where he is a cult-hero.

Right now, Okwi has lost a yard or two of pace and the killer instinct that made him so efficient in and around the box. He has hardly had any impact on The Cranes for the last three years.

On the other hand, Okwi’s professionalism and dedication cannot be questioned. Unfortunately for him, he operates in a position whose key performance indicator is goals.

Forwards and generally strikers are judged by goals. And when they dry up, there is obvious scrutiny. Considering that Okwi has majorly played off the left cutting inside, The Cranes appear to have unearthed one Roger Mato as his successor.

Although, Mato appears to still have quite a distance to cover, to catch up with Okwi’s quality during his heydays. However, it is not only Okwi whose future has been called into question, though. The careers of Khalid Aucho and Faruku Miya in national team uniform are uncertain. Both haven’t imposed themselves the way they did a few years ago.

Uganda’s less than impressive showing in the Afcon qualifiers will demand introspection into Fufa’s vision of building a national team capable of qualifying for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

That is where Okwi finds himself now; having to live with the intensity of all the attention on a department that has rarely shone for the national team – the attack. Of course, some of the shortcomings of the national team today have nothing to do with Okwi.

Uganda’s inability to nurture and build an identity cannot be blamed on a striker in the evening of his career. But coaching at domestic level ought to be scrutinized, according to Tom Ddamulira, a football commentator.

The stalled development of prospects like Allan Okello are a stern indictment on the standards of the game in the country, which will likewise require a protracted analysis in the aftermath of the campaign.

The results over the last three campaigns of the Uganda Cranes have shown that the country has significant work to do, to narrow the gap with the best the continent has to offer.