He’s the best in Africa – no doubt about that. He’s your saviour when you call on him, he can catch a fly in flight, he can save a marriage, he makes the impossible seem so possible. Yes, he’s Denis Onyango.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with local TV, NTV channels, the interim Cranes captain was speaking to the nation after that fairytale cranes campaign at AFCON 2019 and he spoke about who he thinks will go all the way at the finals and what he thinks about the vacant Cranes job and out-gone Cranes coach Desabre’s personality. This is what he had to say;
On who he thinks will go all the way at AFCON 2019: “He said Algeria have so much quality and hardwork in their team, they have no mercy for any team because the way they played against Senegal shows that they are a very strong team and they will go far in the tournament. But there are surprises like Madagascar. But it will count with experience as time goes on.”
On the Cranes performance: “We were knocked out early but I believe that the team did it’s best, we tried to get to the next stage all the time but we were knocked out by the best team in the tournament but the performance was okay from the boys.”
On Desabre leaving the Cranes: “It’s unfortunate that we’ve lost him and we have to start again were by the next coach might have a different approach to the game and it’s not easy to face such challenges as a team, as a federation and as a country because most of the teams now had to change to the style of football that desabrre wanted because we need players from clubs to play for the national team but now the new coach probably will have a new style of football different from Desabre’s.”
On whether a Ugandan coach should be given the Cranes job: “He disagrees saying if a Ugandan coach is appointed, his decisions will be questioned because they will ask him why he picked some players and left out the others maybe because he played for Sc Villa and didn’t play for Kcca that’s why he picked SC villa players and not Kcca players unlike a foreign coach because a foreign coach will come and choose whoever is around, a local coach will choose because he played for a certain team.”
On retiring from the national team: “Am also admitting at the back of my mind that it’s time for me to retire, but of course I can’t take a personal decision because when I was playing football, I had people around me that encouraged me to play so I need people to sit around them and tell them ya, it’s time, it’s time to let it go and concentrate on the club football on the national team it is possible to get a replacement because there is alot of talent out there and there are other keepers that can take the team forward, it can never be only Onyango.”
Excerpts of the interview are included below
