Cranes in driving seat at halfway point of Afcon 2019 qualification stage

KAMPALA. There was an assured response when Cranes coach Sebastian Desabre was asked if his team would be able to qualify for the 2019 Afcon in Cameroon following the goalless draw against Tanzania last month.
“Four points, Tanzania two; no one is perfect. We need to win our next two matches and we shall qualify,” he replied.
A game later and at the halfway point of the qualification campaign, Desabre could perhaps have been right in dismissing the alarm bells against his side.
The Cranes are three points clear at the top of Group L having collected seven points from three games, three higher than Cape Verde and five ahead of Lesotho and Tanzania.

Individual quality
And on the basis of Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Lesotho, the Cranes showed that they could actually seal qualification even with the team not playing to the best of its potential.
The opening two Cranes goals said as much.
Both required moments of individual quality rather than structural play from striker Emmanuel Okwi who made himself space while cutting in from the right to shoot with his supposedly weaker left foot for the first goal.
The second goal too came in similar circumstances with another weaving run this time into the box illegally halted by makeshift left back Basia Makepe.
Yet as good as Okwi was on the evening, it must be added that the visitors’ defending was equally poor.
Twice Edirisa Lubega was afforded too much space and while Okwi sliced his effort wide at the first attempt, the striker showed sharpness nodding home past a static defender. “I warned my players about the quality of Uganda. Today they were on top of us,” Lesotho coach Moses Maliehe said in the post-match press conference.
Another win for the Cranes tomorrow in Maseru will eliminate the hosts and put the Cranes on the verge of an immediate return to Africa’s table of men.
Similarly, Cape Verde who also recorded a 3-0 win over Tanzania on the same weekend can end the latter’s interest in the qualifiers if they pick maximum points.

African qualifiers

Uganda 3–0 Lesotho
Kenya 3–0 Ethiopia
South Africa 3–0 Seychelles
DR Congo 1–2 Zimbabwe
Tunisia 1–0 Niger
Senegal 3-0 Sudan