Onana, what’s my name? Certainly not your ordinary grumpy old man!

An avid reader of this column loves to joke that your columnist risks passing for a grumpy old man  thanks in no small measure to reflecting unsparingly on the missteps of local sports administrators.

Time and again. Unfortunately, missteps and local sports are mutually exclusive. Even more unfortunate is the fact that sports is a microcosm of modern-day Uganda.

Coercion and restraint remain the bedrock of success in major spheres of the country—and the cornerstone of all wealth generated from them. The brokenness that sits uncomfortably between coercion and restraint is expected to slip by unnoticed.

Take Kampala, our glorified capital, that remains the very embodiment of a workshop, with high-rise buildings chaotically popping up and delays in re-laying roads inconveniencing many.

Last week, a trip to the tyre clinic was all but inevitable after a nail deflated the rear tyre of my car. This typically happens when a few showers sweep nails from the construction sites dotting the capital into the potholes that remain in abundance.

Equally, it is just as discomforting on a cloudless day. The sun does more than bake our brains. The dust kicked up on dirt roads awaiting to be asphalted—like those on all the streets of the Industrial Area—can be quite punishing.

I hazarded a guess that this could explain why Andre Onana looked grumpy when fans scrummed around him to take selfies shortly after he had landed at Entebbe Airport.

One of my contemporaries from school had asked me to deconstruct the pained expression on his face. The dust!, I told her.

More on the rock star treatment of Manchester United's Cameroonian goalkeeper shortly. Let your columnist first do everything remotely possible to dispense with the grumpy old man characterisation.

Here I am sounding sanguine. First off, what an international break the Cranes managed to stitch together. The battling point won in South Africa last Friday set Paul Put's charges up for a fairly comfortable win at home to Congo-Brazzaville on Monday.

We could not have asked for a more auspicious start to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying campaign.

While the game management in the latter part of the 2-2 draw in South Africa left a lot to be desired, costing the Cranes two valuable points, Put deserves credit for creating a competitive outfit.

His appointment as Cranes head coach was barely viewed as a slam dunk, not least by this column, but the Belgian tactician has worked hard to confound expectations.

He took on the Cranes coaching reins hardly oblivious to the fact that the work comes with a lot of conceptual baggage. To say that he has made a fist of it would be an understatement.

Yet, all said, it is important that Put and his charges do not get carried away ahead of next month's doubleheader against neighbours South Sudan.

A cat could yet be placed amongst the pigeons as was the case when a 1-0 loss 'away' to South Sudan during the penultimate matchday virtually put paid Uganda's chances of featuring in the 2021 Afcon finals. It was left to Malawi to drill the final nail in Uganda’s coffin. And it did.

While the mood was one of shock and deep discomfort back then, all indications are that things will change for the better this time around.

Cranes players have shown that they can be dazzling in their ruthless sense of purpose. Allan Okello's deftly fashioned assist for Jude Semugabi's goal in the 2-0 win over Congo-Brazzaville will not only be immortalised in print but also endlessly recalled.

Ditto the twin pile drivers of Denis Omedi and Rogers Mato in Johannesburg.

While all those magical moments brought the Cranes into the orbit of prominence, an appearance from a goalkeeper, who not only plies his trade in England's top flight football league but also leaks goals like a sieve, stole the thunder.

Onana's appearance in Uganda—where he helped Cameroon earn a share of the spoils with Zimbabwe—goes to great lengths to show just how the English Premier League (EPL) holds Ugandans spellbound.

This column has previously unpacked the impact of Ugandan football failing to project itself as a brand. As I wrote back then, brands are created and remain domiciled in the mind.

The Manchester United brand is the reason why Onana received rock star treatment this past week. It is also the reason why Ugandan club football matches should not be scheduled to clash with EPL matches.

To put it bluntly, we are not yet there. If this makes me sound like a grumpy old man, so be it.