It is an ultimate dream realized for many budding youngsters to feature for their senior national teams.
For Erith & Belvedere striker, Nelson Senkatuka, the chance will be the second in a life time having been summoned to train with the senior team prior to the 2014 CHAN championships in South Africa.
He boldly attests to the opportunity to play for the Uganda Cranes;
I’m very delighted and happy to be a Ugandan but you need luck in football and one day my chance will come and I play for my country.
The most important thing is to be ready when that chance comes and I feel I am because it’s a lifelong dream. Playing for your country is the highest honour for any footballer so if a chance comes then it will be a step up for me.
Senkatuka was part of the squad which trained in September last year under Cranes tactician Sredjovich ‘Micho’ Milutin as Uganda qualified for the 2014 African Nations Championship [CHAN] that was staged in South Africa.
The burly but talented forward is now at football Club in Ryman South Football league in United Kingdom.
Senkatuka is not looking too far ahead but he concedes he would treat it as the transformation of his career if he is to be selected in the Cranes squad for the Olympic qualifiers later this year.
Taking part in any competition for the Cranes would be a great height for my career by far. I know this will give my career a great platform on which to continue progressing.” he adds.
Playing Along Side Okwi and Massa:
Senkatuka imagines playing alongside Cranes star forwards like Geoffrey Massa and Emmanuel Okwi on the same turf.
They are typical Uganda Cranes heroes no doubt with a lot of experience and have scored many goals for the country and I could learn a few things from them. I’m keen to get a taste of the international set-up and interact with the other great players in the Cranes squad too.
He commends Cranes tactician Sredjovich ‘Micho’ Milutin for having given him the chance to train with the CHAN team (a team for locally based players) in September while they were in their preparations for African Nations Championship.
Indeed it was a good experience and changed my attitude towards the game.
Micho gave me a chance to train with the Cranes but unfortunately I was ineligible to play in that tournament.I got a lot of help from him and from the other coaches as well.
But I’m patiently waiting for that chance to come again.
Micho once said in January 2014 upon defending his opinion to summon Senkatuka in the training squad for CHAN yet he knew the boy could not feature in the tourney.
He’s a fantastic player and a great professional
Said Micho after a friendly game between Uganda Cranes and Selected XI team, a game Senkatuka played pretty well and scored against the Cranes.
Senkatuka got his call up to the National team after a wonderful display in the friendly game between Uganda Cranes and a Select side, a game Cranes won 3-2 with Senkatuka scoring one of the 2 goals before hitting the goal post in the dying minutes of the game.
Recently in the UK Africa Cup of Nations 2014 goal poacher Senkatuka scored 13 goals in 7 appearances, scoring in every match as Uganda reached the semi-finals but beaten by Nigeria.
He is currently plying his trade with UK based side Erith and Belvedere F.C a club he joined after training with the Dartford United F.C academy, also based in UK Football Conference Premier League during 2012-13 season.
He played at UK based Cranes United FC in 2012-2013 in the Romford and District football league scoring 30 goals.
In 2015 Bika Bya Baganda, he scored 5 goals in 4 appearances to help his Mbogo clan into the finals of the Buganda Inter-Clan Cup.
MAIN PHOTO: Nelson Senkatuka celebrates his strike for Mbogo Clan at Mityana Ssaza grounds during the 2014 Bika Bya Baganda finals.
