Cranes midfielder Hassan Wasswa has leapt to the defence of his coach Micho Sredojevic following his controversial substitution in the 3-1 defeat to Morocco on Monday.
With Uganda having equalized against the Moroccans, thanks to Yunus Sentamu, Micho ejected Wasswa, replacing him with youngster Francis Olaki when many thought the Cranes could have held onto their 1-1 scoreline.
The Cranes needed just one point to progress from Group B of the African Nations Championship (Chan).
The argument was that the ejection of a much more experienced and solid Wasswa for an attack-minded Olaki left Uganda hollow in the middle, allowing the more technically gifted Moroccans to exploit.
And true the Northern Africans capitalized, scoring two late goals to qualify for the quarters as group leaders.
But Wasswa defended his coach saying he asked for the substitution as he was struggling with injury going into half time.
“I picked a hamstring going into half time and after I realized I could not continue in the second half,” Wasswa explained to supersport.com in an interview.
“So I told my captain (Denis Guma) after about 20 minutes that I could not continue. I thought I would cost the team if I stayed on so I asked to be substituted.”
Source: Supersport
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