Uganda’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Thomas Tayebwa, and his son Timothy Tayebwa met with Manchester United goalie Andrey Onana on Sunday morning. Onana is in Uganda because Cameroon is playing their neighboring country Kenya in an AFCON qualifier on Monday.
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Both Tayebwa and Onana met at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, which is also where the West African national team is staying before Cameroon’s important Group J match.
During the meeting, Tayebwa talked about how passionate Ugandans are about Manchester United and asked Onana to push for the famous football club to come to Uganda.
“This morning, my son and I had a fun conversation with @AndreyOnana.” Hon Tayebwa wrote on Sunday morning, “The @ManUtd goalkeeper is in Uganda for their @DiskiAfrika qualifier match against @Harambee__Stars of Kenya.”
“As die-hard @ManUtd fans, we’re thrilled to see an African flying the African flag at the world’s biggest football club.” And I’m happy with how he’s settled in. We’re all hoping for him to do well, he said.
“On a lighter note, I told him I would look into it to see if he has family in Uganda, since the Bakiga came from Cameroon.” For both my son and me, the request he sent to see him play live at Old Trafford is equally exciting.
They got to Uganda on Saturday and are ready to play the Harambee Stars at Mandela Stadium on Monday. Cameroon is known as the “Indomitable Lions.”
This is their second trip to Uganda in the past few months. The first was for a game against Zimbabwe last month, which drew thousands of fans.
But the Kenya Football Federation said that the future AFCON qualifiers would be held behind closed doors. This means that fans won’t be able to see Onana and the Indomitable Lions play live at Namboole.
Many Ugandan Manchester United fans who were cheering for Cameroon in their last game will have to do so from outside the stadium, which is bad news for the die-hard fans who want to support their hero.