The Uganda Cranes defeated Nigeria 1-0 at Akwa Ibom stadium Uyo on Wednesday in an international match. However during the game the Uganda Cranes first choice keeper Denis Onyango donned a white jersey with an unfamiliar writing of a figure on the back of his shirt.
Prior to the game it had rained heavily for close to two hours, even when the team traveled to the stadium and carried out their warm up, there were still heavy drizzles.
However the two keepers Ismail Watenga and Denis Onyango requested for change of the famous padded yellow and black stripped jerseys after the warm up for fear that they would easily soak up water if they landed down during the game. The drizzles were still heavy at kickoff time.
‘It wasn’t easy to change the shirts and numbers as they had already been entered on the team sheet and handed over to the day’s referee’ said FUFA Spokesperson Ahmed Hussein.
‘We approached the match officials before kick off requesting for change of jersey. Initially they had refused but later granted us permission on condition that the colour of the keeper’s kit changes but the numbers remain the same’ added Hussein.
The white jerseys carried as an alternative official kit for Cranes never had number 18. The only option available was the usage of any markings to add on to the existing number 8 on the white jersey to come up with number 18 which had already been entered on the team sheet.
FUFA believes this explanation will put to rest any questions raised about the jersey worn by Onyango during the match.
