Robert Madoi

So Hassan Shehata’s Egypt won its third African Nations Cup title on the bounce. No surprises there.
How about former Cranes coach, Csaba Laszlo’s dismissal from Scottish outfit Hearts of Midlothian? Again, no surprises there. Hearts’ owner, Vladimir Romanov’s reputation as a seasoned hatchet man is well documented.

When Laszlo started throwing covet broadsides at Romanov for failing to avail a transfer kitty to shore up Hearts’ deplorable attack, there was always  going to be one outcome.

Laszlo was at Hearts for barely two years. You could of course rightly attribute the Hungarian-German’s sacking to his trademark negative (defensive if you like) philosophy that shackled the Tynecastle side. But there is no doubt that, like Giovanni Trapattoni memorably said, today’s football coaches are no different from fish – when they stay around for long they start to smell.

In these lewdly commercialised days, a coach is only as good as their next result. The aspect of team building is shamelessly hurled out of the window. But as Egypt have showed, it pays to stay with a coach through the proverbial thick and thin moments.

The footballing fraternity know Shehata as a former star forward who has excelled with the Pharaohs’ coaching reins in his grasp. They conveniently negate that Shehata’s stock tanked during the dawning of his career as Egypt’s national football coach.

During the 2004 Nations Cup, hosted and won by Tunisia, Egypt under the tutelage of Shehata failed to make it out of a group comprising Algeria, Cameroon and Zimbabwe.

This was Shehata’s first major assignment, having been snapped up from Al-Mokaweloon an Egyptian club based in Nasr city. After the horror showing at the 2004 Nations Cup, Shehata must have been smelling like a fish.

But the Egyptian FA didn’t opine that their man had over stayed his welcome. Instead, they gave him time to stamp his mark on the team. That decision has paid rich dividends with Shehata overseeing an Egyptian side that has mastered the 3-5-2 formation so much it could pass for its DNA.

All of this makes news that close-door neighbours Tanzania are targeting current Cranes coach Bobby Williamson at best worrying. Williamson’s agent has since come out to reassure Ugandans that his man is staying put.

But this is exactly what happened when it became an open secret that Laszlo was searching for greener pastures yet he had a long-term contract with The Cranes. Lightning could well strike twice and thwart any team-building plans that Uganda has up its sleeve.

Uganda needs for Williamson to stay put to give The Cranes an identity that will not only be a defining thread, but also a catalyst for success. During his tenure as national coach, Williamson has drummed up a system that has The Cranes playing without out-and-out holding midfielders.

The aforesaid system has won the Scot two CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup laurels. Williamson has set qualifying for the 2012 Nations Cup as his Holy Grail, but with advances from the likes of Tanzania one cannot help but wonder if he will hang around for long.

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It’s not just the staying power of Williamson that is in doubt. The players’ is also. One of the hallmarks from Shehata’s Egyptian side that has won an unprecedented hat-trick of Nations Cup titles is the constant presence of skipper Ahmed Hassan.

The proud owner of 172 international caps, Hassan has spent 14 of his 34 years playing for Egypt. His sustained stay at the big time has been attributed to a disciplined life both on and off the pitch. Can a Steven Bengo mirror this kind of discipline and turn out to be a brilliant servant for Ugandan football? Your guess is as good as mine.

rmadoi@observer.ug

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