By Our Reporter
With just nine days left to the kick-off of the 2016 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) finals in Kigali, Rwanda, Cranes’ players have expressed their commitment to take Uganda past the group stages as the country marks its third consecutive appearance at the tournament.
“We narrowly failed to qualify to the quarter finals in South Africa but we are now committed to get past the group stages, we are not participants but competitors this time,” SC Villa and Cranes left fullback Isaac Muleme is quoted on the federation’s website.
A team of 26-local based players are currently undergoing intensified residential training at the FUFA technical center in Njeru, Jinja where head coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic has expressed concern in the goalkeeping selection given the quality of the goalies in camp.
The three custodians in camp are Vipers’ Ismail Watenga and James Alitho plus Bright Stars’ Mathias Kigonya, all who featured at the 2015 CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup in Ethiopia last year.
“Logically, the quality of one pushes the other, so that leaves with three high quality goalkeepers,” Micho told a local new paper, the Daily Monitor.
The Serbian has also said that the players have acclimated to the artificial turf on which they will be playing their group stage games at Rubavu.
“We have acclimatized to the artificial turf which will be used in Rubavu where we shall have our group stage games. The camp at the FUFA Technical Center has lent a hand to us get used to the artificial turf situation,” coach Micho remarked.
The Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) will kick off on January 17 and conclude on February 7.
CHAN Groups:
Group A: Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Gabon
Group B: DRC, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Angola
Group C: Tunisia, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria
Group D: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Mali
Uganda’s fixtures:
January 19: vs. Mali
January 23: vs. Zambia
January 27: vs. Zimbabwe
