Can Desabre finally confound his critics?

Last Chance Saloon. Desabre will be looking to rally his Cranes troops for one more chance to showcase his preferred style of football. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO

What you need to know:

  • While there was no sense of conviction in their performances during the trial games, Desabre will be desperate that a change in clubs (Luwagga to BATE Borisov and Miya Gorcia) propels the attacking midfielders to fit his template so convincingly.
  • Provisional Squad. Earlier this week Sebastien Desabre summoned a 30-man provisional squad to prepare for the ‘epic clash against Tanzania due September 8

After looking nail-bitingly uncertain during an enterprising buildup programme that produced a solitary win over lowly São Tomé and Príncipe, Cranes coach Sébastien Desabre shined with renewed purpose as he faced the media this past week.

The Frenchman masked any human failings under a veneer of perfection as he named Uganda’s provisional squad ahead of next month’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at home to Tanzania.
If Desabre has lost his edge, as most people seem to reckon with a note of derision, he did his best not to look like a man drowning in a flood of problems. Whether the confidence coursing through him will win over doubting Cranes fans rests on a cornerstone of conjecture. Many of the Doubting Thomases have remained unapologetic about their bold prediction that the affable 42-year-old coach will have his work cut out as he steers Uganda through the treacherous shifting sands.

This is profoundly different mood from the one that greeted Uganda’s win against Cape Verde in Praia last June.
Back then there was a feeling that the Cranes were on the cusp of qualifying for their second Afcon finals on the bounce (yes that early!). Uganda was expected to bestride Group L in a way Cape Verde, Tanzania and Lesotho could never imagine. Of course, the Cranes could still do just that. But with Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojević gone and many Cranes fans at their wits’ end after watching Desabre’s travails, the shine appears to be coming off quickly.

The Frenchman has got a bad rap, deservedly so. His credibility has been vastly diminished if not demolished by a poor streak that couldn’t even buy a win on the “Cranes Namutima” tour.
Yet, all said and done, it will be as shocking as anything anyone could ever encounter if a ticket to Cameroon 2019 isn’t secured.

While the win in Praia could yet prove highly significant for the Cranes, Desabre wants to exercise an enormous influence of his own on the qualification process.
After doing lots of chopping and changing, the Frenchman has settled on a crop of players whose hard-wired inclination he hopes won’t be to grind and fiddle. See it is not nationality that distinguishes Desabre from Micho so much as style and approach.

While Micho prides himself on the rigour of his approach, Desabre would rather not be handcuffed to functional football.
Having tried, without great success, to steep Cranes football in the aesthetics during what he called a “trial period”, the Frenchman made omissions and inclusions that he hopes will help him achieve his key goal in the competitive period. Central to that goal is controlling the game by possessing the ball.

This means playing from the back. While Desabre has a playing goalkeeper in Denis Onyango, centre backs in the mould of Bevis Mugabi are not quite helpful to his ideals.
The Cranes coach will as such be hoping that Isaac Isinde, who is back playing again, having been unattached to a club for what seemed like eternity, can help make playing from the back a reality.

Further afield, Desabre will also hope that the likes of William Kizito Luwagga and Farouk Miya show not just unshackled power but also intelligence playing between the lines.
While there was no sense of conviction in their performances during the trial games, Desabre will be desperate that a change in clubs (Luwagga to BATE Borisov and Miya Gorcia) propels the attacking midfielders to fit his template so convincingly.