Uganda forced to arrive on match day
Organisers of the 51st Independence Anniversary Celebrations pressed the panic buttons when Uganda national soccer team failed to arrive in the country on Sunday as earlier arranged due to flight complications.
Uganda Cranes only arrived in the country yesterday afternoon at around 3pm, forcing the organisers to revise the programme of events at the Kamuzu Stadium, including the actual match.
Youth Development and Sports Minister Grace Chiumia, a memberof the organising committee, could not be reached for comment, but Football Association of Malawi (FAM) finance and administration director Christopher Mdolo confirmed the predicament yesterday.
“They [Uganda team] were booked to travel by South African Airways [SAA] flight which was supposed to depart Entebe Airport at 6.55am on Sunday for Johannesburg, South Africa, from where they were supposed to connect to Blantyre.
“Unfortunately, the information we have got is that SAA cancelled the flight and rescheduled it to 8pm the same day and the Uganda team arrived in Johannesburg at around 11pm and spent a night there,” explained Mdolo.
He said the situation meant the Ugandans could only connect to Malawi by Malawian Airlines at 11.40am (yesterday).
“So, we are expecting them to arrive latest by 3pm [yesterday] and they will be driven straight to the stadium for the match,” said Mdolo.
This meant the Ugandans found themselves in a similar situation like Zimbabwe’s Warriors who arrived hours before the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations against the Flames last month, but still defied the odds and won 2-1.
Mdolo said it was difficult for the Ugandans to arrive earlier because they had a Championship of African Nations (Chan) qualifier against Tanzania on Saturday in Kampala.
