Miya delivers Uganda’s Afcon goal after 14,197 days

Uganda's forward Farouk Miya jumps over Mali's defender Mahamadou N'Diaye (bottom) during the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations

14,197. Those are the number of days Uganda waited for an Africa Cup of Nations goal. What a long wait!

Since Philip Omondi scored for The Cranes in 1978 during their match against Nigeria’s Super Eagles, they have never celebrated any other.

Not that they never wanted to, Uganda had not qualified for subsequent Africa Cup of Nations. It had been a 39-year drought for the East Africans, until they made it here for the 2017 edition.

It rained on the mountain top, but it was the valley below that got flooded and that valley was the Oyem Stadium.

On that Wednesday night, the heavens opened and reduced the playing surface to a slippery affair. It was comical as players on both sides fought hard to stay afloat.

Then came that time; the moment of glory. And from the second youngest player in that Cranes squad; Farouk Miya. The Standard Liege youngster, who will turn 20 on November 26, powered home past a stunned Oumar Sissoko in Mali goal.

It was a moment of brilliance from the young man and an instance of pleasure for Ugandan fans. This Miya boy has been their pillar for most of the time. He scored that decisive goal last September that secured Uganda’s qualification for their first African Nations Cup in 39 years.

And it was an effort that surely secured Uganda a portion of glory in African football history. And for his trouble, he was named Man-of-the-match.

“It is unfortunate we never got that win that we were looking for, but I thank the team for a good job. At least we got a point from the match,” said Miya.

“The weather conditions were not very good as it had rained heavily, but we got something.”

On a saturated field, the conditions clearly denied both teams a chance of delivering a free-flowing football. That Uganda’s reserve goalkeeper Robert Odongkara changed his gloves after 10 minutes, was an indication of how soaked things were.

But that did not daunt the Ugandans. They pressed on until that minute of glory arrived at Miya’s blessed feet. After tracking his effort as it bulged the drenched Malian nets, Miya knew he will forever be part of Ugandan history.

And for four minutes, he was basking in pure glory, until Yves Bissouma’s impressive free-kick made it 1-1.