2018 WC: Uganda Cranes want to use Afcon as spring

KAMPALA.

Looking at the 2018 Fifa Russia World Cup qualifying pots, which were released on Thursday, Uganda will inevitably hope to avoid North African opposition when group stage draws are conducted on June 24.

The Cranes are in Pot 4, together with 2017 Afcon qualifying opponents Burkina Faso, next year’s Nations Cup hosts Gabon, former African champions Zambia, and Libya as the lowest seeded countries.

Pot 1 has Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia; 2 Cape Verde, Egypt, DR Congo, Nigeria and Mali, and pool 3 Cameroon, Morocco, Guinea, South Africa, Congo and DR Congo.

Uganda, who dispatched Togo 4-0 on aggregate in the previous World Cup qualifying stage to make it to the group phase, are open to face anyone from Pots 1 to 3.

Going by previous competitive results, Uganda will want to avoid North Africans Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco.

Countries to avoid
Cameroon, Ivory Coast and DRC are the other countries the Cranes would wish to steer clear of.

That does not imply that Uganda, who have not been at the Nations Cup in 39 years, and never at the World Cup, will be pumping their chests in face of Ghana, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Mali, Guinea, South Africa and Congo Brazzaville. But these, they can compete.

And with Uganda just a victory away from next year’s Afcon in Gabon, Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic hopes they complete the task against Comoros on September 3 and use that as a spring when World Cup qualifying group stage starts the following month.

“We have no right to threaten nobody but as we focus on match against Comoros, which can take us to Afcon, we can fly high on the wings of confidence due to Afcon qualification, go and play with any team without any fear,” the Serbian told Sunday Monitor.

Leicester story
“Greece in Euro 2004 (fairy-tale champions) and Leicester in 2016 (EPL winners) are great inspirations.

“We have a right to dream and have hope by throwing last cell of energy on the field of play in order to respect millions of Ugandans. We have to dream no matter how big opponents are and how great players they have.”
The 20 teams will be divided into five groups of four. These will play home-and-away round-robin matches, with winners of each pool qualifying for the World Cup.

How the countries were seeded
Pot 1:
Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia
Pot 2:
Cape Verde, Egypt, DR Congo, Nigeria, Mali
Pot 3:
Cameroon, Morocco, Guinea, South Africa, Congo
Pot 4:
Uganda, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Zambia, Libya

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