Cranes look to stifle Adebayor
Cranes captain Mwesigwa (R) and Daniel Sserunkuma train ahead of tomorrow’s Group E encounter with Togo. Mwesigwa will be key in stopping Togo’s Adebayor from scoring. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
But coach Micho Sredojevic rules out man-marking the Tottenham star, insisting there are many other quality players in Togolese ranks to hurt Cranes if all focus is put on Adebayor
Given his proven randomness with Togo over the years, most Ugandans will only believe his availability when they see the towering 6’ 3’ Tottenham Hotspur striker in flesh.
One surety though is that Togo coach Tchakala Tchanile’s has Emmanuel Adebayor in his travelling squad.
And when Togo touch down in the country aboard a private jet KPI 2050 at midday today, as confirmed by Fufa International Match Organization Committee Patrick Egwel chairman, it will be the 30-year-old cameras and eyes will be fixed on.
His sight could be the object of bother between Cranes captain Andy Mwesigwa and Isaac Isinde or Savio Kabugo when Uganda take on the Sparrow Hawks in the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers at Namboole tomorrow.
Mwesigwa has, however, over the years decently dealt with such big names as Asemoah Gyan and Angola’s Manucho but will need extra help in cutting supply to Adebayor, as Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic opines.
“First of all Emmanuel Adebayor is a classic case of how African football dream could come true because, maybe you don’t know but up to four years old he could not walk,” Micho told Daily Monitor. “He was praying in church and when a ball entered in church he stood up and from that time his life changed.”
Micho added: “Later on 2008 he became African football Footballer of the Year. All his life he’s been in hard work. He’s played in such good teams like Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Tottenham… it simply speaks the volume about him and his football identity.
“But instead of going and marking him we need to mark and look for the balls that are coming to him… it means before problem becomes big by the ball reaching to him we need to find a way of blocking the balls, of closing the supply. That is first.
“But in the same moment, I need to tell you; if all our attention goes to Emmanuel Adebayor, we shall forget that opponent has four – I regard them and I don’t want to speak about their names – top class players that they are ready with one touch to finish the game in their favour.
“So it is a clinical game and game that we need to be programmed the same like top class computers in order to have eye on defence, creative midfield and the most important sharp attack that will make us convert our chances.”
The other Togolese to look out for are the Ayite brothers – Floyd of Bastia in France and Jonathan of Alanyaspor in Turkey.
