Fred Kaweesi
11 January 2009
Kampala — HERE is a good tip: if you are going to wind someone up, its best not to tell them before you start trying. The player or team concerned, if they have got a certain ability or sense, will make an extra special effort to keep control of their nerves and prove you wrong.
Maybe someone should have told Burundian coach Cedric Kaze, who let it be known on the eve of yesterday's semi-final that Cranes and Brian Umony in particular were going to get "the rough treatment". Mind games? Possibly. Mind-less? Almost certainly.
The Cranes were provoked, all right, but provoked beyond reasonable measure that Burundi had to be sentenced to a humiliating 5-0 semi-final defeat at Namboole Stadium.
Brilliantly exploiting the spacious foreheads of Brian Umony, Andy Mwesigwa and quick feet of Steven Bengo, and Geoffrey Massa, the Cranes comfortably dealt with Burundi, catapulting themselves into the final against Kenya on Tuesday.
No one should bet against this defensively sound, quick-thinking, fast-breaking side of Bobby Williamson.
Cranes' reserve striker Caesar Okhuti must be wondering about his future in the starting team because such has been the excellence of his previous understudy Umony that there will be no two ways about his status in the team.
Umony met Habib Kavuma's perfectly-weighted corner at the far post with an incisive header on 31 minutes to hand the Cranes the lead, the goal coming 12 minutes after Burundi had lost their soul in the shape of Fuad Ndayisenga to injury.
To neutrals, the game, in which Burundi had started well,clearly died at the very moment Ndayisenga left.
A goal down, and with their talismanic player off, Burundi were there for the taking and could have lost complete identity had Mwesigwa, Massa or Umony converted their goal-bound opportunities.
Cranes continued to scent blood and on 44 minutes, the lead was doubled, Mwesigwa finding the target this time.
The Iceland-based defender, who had one of his best performances for the team, headed home a rebound that had earlier rattled the upright.
The score necessitated a knee-jerk reaction from Burundi but there wasn't against a Cranes side that was fantastic in movement and with players always making up for the other.
There are of course better individuals in the game, but there was no unit more authoritative and more vibrant than the current changed Cranes side, compared to the team that started the games against Rwanda and Zanzibar.
For minutes, Cranes' fluent one-touch passing, with Mawejje and Kayizzi's sorcery, threatened to stretch and surprise Burundi. They took the game to Burundi after the break, and they wilted.
It was often a question of balance and organization rather than personnel, for there were no doubts about the abilities of Bengo, Massa and Umony later into the second half.
There was an eye for goal, a cunning instinct to deceive on the run and above all, an amalgamation of precision in Cranes' third on 47 minutes.
Bengo surged past two Burundi defenders just outside the 18-yard, and cut across with such dexterity. Burundi custodian Abu Ndayisenga was left stranded after the pocket-sized midfielder struck with a typical mixture of impudence and elegance.
As wonder goals go, Massa's fourth for the Cranes, could not have come better. The Egypt-based striker ghosted past three flat-footed players, dummied the goalkeeper Ndayisenga before thumping home on 62 minutes.
Ndayisenga was at the wrong end of a fifty-fifty situation in the 83rd minute, and could do little to thwart Umony's instinctive 20-yard run and finish -Cranes fifth and Umony's fourth goal of the tournament that elevated him to joint-top scorer alongside Kenya's Francis Ouma.
The final will be sterner, but the Harambe Stars should still find problems containing this reformed side. "The fans should come in numbers to support this young team," Williamson said.
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