There is a gentleness about it all – the light Moroccan sun, the fresh turf underfoot, and the familiar hum of a team easing into a major tournament as you watch them speak in videos provided by Uganda’s FA – Fufa.
But beneath the calm, the Uganda Cranes are building something sterner. In Casablanca, where they opened their 11-day Afcon 2025 training camp early in the week, the mood is one of quiet belief rather than noise.
Rogers Mato captured it best. The forward, who has grown into one of Uganda’s dependable attackers, stepped off the pitch after the opening session with the relaxed smile of a man who knows what the moment means.
‘Yeah, it is a dream come true to be part of this team,’ he said, beaming. ‘With experienced players and upcoming ones. I feel honoured to come and honour my country.’
There was nothing scripted about it. Just a footballer allowing himself to admit what many players feel but rarely say aloud – the mix of gratitude, expectation and childlike wonder that comes with entering the continent’s defining competition.
Up with the best
Mato spoke of the tournament’s weight for the next generation too, calling Afcon ‘a good one for the rising stars.’
And he placed it above anything he has played in so far, even Europe’s Conference League – not in prestige, but in personal meaning. ‘It is a big achievement for me and my career,,’ said the FK Vardar (North Macedonia) attacker.
A few metres away, midfielder Bobosi Byaruhanga voiced a similar sentiment.
The Oakland Roots (USA) playmaker, fresh from his first drills, didn’t stretch for poetry. He just said what he felt: ‘I am very happy.’
The rest – the pride, the readiness, the sense of belonging – was visible in the grin he couldn’t hide.
Byaruhanga is part of a midfield group blending maturity and invention, a key piece as coach Paul Put attempts to weld local reliability to foreign-based sharpness.
For now, the Cranes continue their work in Casablanca before shifting to Rabat, their Group C base, where Uganda will face Tunisia and Tanzania. They later move to Fes for the final group game against Nigeria.
Two friendlies – against Far Rabat on Saturday, December 13 and Gabon four days later – will tune the edges.
But in these early Moroccan days, what stands out most is not tactics or shape.
It is something simpler: a squad quietly embracing the honour of being there, and daring to believe they can belong on this stage.
Afcon 2025
Group C matches
Dec 23: Tunisia vs Uganda
Dec 27: Uganda vs Tanzania
Dec 30: Uganda vs Nigeria