One almost has to admire the audacity of Moses Magogo’s 2023 proclamation, that Sébastien Desabre was “overrated.” It’s the kind of statement that ages either like fine wine… or like milk left out in Kampala’s midday sun. Unsurprisingly, this one chose the latter.
Let’s revisit the premise. According to Magogo, Desabre merely inherited a “mature” Uganda Cranes side, a team polished by Milutin Sredojević’s prior groundwork, fresh off AFCON 2017 and a commendable 2018 World Cup qualifying run. The implication? That Desabre was little more than a caretaker of an already-functioning machine.
Fascinating theory. Now, let’s examine reality.
Fast forward a few years, and that same “overrated” Frenchman has taken the DR Congo national football team to heights they hadn’t seen in over half a century, a World Cup qualification, 52 years in the making, after edging Jamaica 1-0 in the playoffs.
Not content with that, he has also steered them deep into AFCON territory,semifinals, quarterfinals, consistently knocking on the continent’s elite door.
Overrated, indeed.
One is tempted to ask: at what exact point does “overrated” graduate into “exceptional”? Is it after transforming one national team’s playing identity into something vibrant and cohesive, as he did with Uganda? Or does it require resurrecting another into global relevance after five decades of obscurity?
Because if that’s the benchmark, then Desabre seems to have overshot “overrated” by several miles.
And then there’s the small matter of testimony, the players themselves. Footballers who worked under Desabre have, with striking unanimity, described him as the finest coach they’ve encountered. Not good. Not decent. The best. Curious, isn’t it, how those closest to the craft often contradict the distant verdicts of administrators?
Meanwhile, Uganda… well, Uganda continues to flirt with inconsistency, occasionally threatening promise but rarely sustaining it. The “mature team” has long since aged out, and whatever succession plan existed appears to have been written in invisible ink.
Which brings us to the lingering, uncomfortable question: if Desabre was so dispensable, why does his absence still echo so loudly?
Perhaps the real issue wasn’t that he was overrated, but that he was undervalued. That when Pyramids FC came calling with a serious offer, Uganda’s football establishment responded with something far less serious, if they tried. A shrug, maybe. A miscalculation, certainly.
So here we are, years later, watching Desabre thrive on bigger stages, while revisiting quotes that now read less like analysis and more like… wishful thinking.
One can only wonder: when Magogo said “overrated,” what exactly did he mean?
Because from where things stand now, the only thing overrated… might have been that assessment itself.
