On Saturday, on the pock-marked pitch of Port Gentil, Egypt snuffed out the last flickering embers of hope from Uganda’s fairytale return to the African Nations Cup.
Abdellah Said’s goal with seconds left to play stuck and twisted a knife into the collective hearts of early 40 million people. As Egypt erupted in rapturous joy, one could almost hear the crack of those 40 million hearts breaking in unison.
The pain, oh the pain.
But as we (and especially Ugandans themselves) look in the rear view on this campaign, it is important to look at it in the clear light of day, and reason appropriately.
The romance of a return to Africa’s premier tournament after 39 years might have been flogged out - and it does seem like the Cranes and their fans were still stuck in celebration mode - but it still remains a major achievement all things considered.
But the build up was less than ideal. Coach Milutin Sredojevic was owed for months on end, then treated adversarially for daring to ask for his wages. His initial preparatory programme was scratched, throwing a slander in his works.
More than that though, the Cranes were unfortunate to be lumped in a group with two of most successful teams. Between them, Egypt and Ghana boat boast 11 titles. As if that were not enough, Mali have been one of the more relatively successful Nations Cup teams, at least by second tier standards. They have reached five semi-finals since 1994, and finished third twice.
And any judge of the Cranes’ early exit must look at the Neo performances against the two giants of African football. Not only were they not awed, but they took the game to their more talented and illustrious foes and managed to take both to the wire before losing by the slimmest of margins.
Against Ghana, it was a rush of blood to the head by Isaac Isinde to give away a penalty kick which Andre Ayew dispatched. And against Egypt, it was a last-minute goal, occasioned, one might be tempted to say, by fatigue.
In both games, they laid siege to two sides they had no business dominating and but for the waywardness of their inexperienced finishing, could well have come away with something from both.
So as they get ready to face Mali next, it is entirely possible that they might well go home with zero points, seeing as they Malians desperately need a win to try to sneak into the last eight, but look at the positives.
The Cranes have shown that they can mix it with the big boys of African football. They would have learned from the experience of this campaign.
In Mohammed Shaban and Farouk Miya, they have two players who could go on to form one of Africa’s most fearsome offensive partnerships between midfield and attack.
Denis Onyango has time to mentor Robert Odongkara and Jamal Salim. Isinde can only get better from taking the lessons of his error and using it to make himself a better player. Joseph Ochaya and Moses Oloya are young enough to form the backbone of this team going forward.
In all, Uganda have the spine of a team that they can build around for the future. Coach Micho may not be around after this tournament (and that would be such a crying shame) but he has left a solid launchpad for Uganda to take off from.
In that sense, his biggest achievement would not be breaking a 39-year-old horcrux, but laying the foundations for Uganda’s future greatness.
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