Fred Kaweesi
15 November 2009
Kampala — UGANDA Cranes have been challenged to view the coming of the official World Cup trophy to Uganda as an incentive to claiming major silverware in future.
"The trophy should be an impetus to try and go further. We have done our best before but we should do everything to win the Nations Cup trophy in four years' time. That should be our target," Education and Sports Minister Namirembe Bitamazire said during her trophy welcoming speech at Entebbe.
Uganda's enduring love affair with both the Nations Cup and World Cup has been a roller-coaster of pure agony since 1978, with the intervening years authoring a series of near-misses and abject failures.
31 years ago, Cranes stormed the Nations Cup final before surrendering it to hosts Ghana.
Although Uganda's ambitions have since grown more modest, Bitamazire feels the current generation could still make the continental event. "I thank FIFA for the support it has rendered in building the FUFA Technical Centre in Njeru," she added.
Scuffle at Airport
That said though, Uganda's trophy tour did not pass without incident.
On arrival at the airport, although just a few managed to notice the trophy being whisked away, its journey to the State House suffered a massive delay following a disagreement between the tour organisers and the trophy's security personnel over the quality of car that had been booked to chauffeur the trophy.
It took 30 minutes to convince Fernando Del Vella, the senior security official that the G4S mini van was safe.
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