Cranes must cool flames

The Cranes will contend with Malawi Flames, who are atop Group B with three points. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO

Cranes coach Johnathan McKinstry’s school of thought is in line with many of the team’s followers and fans.
A home fixture in the 2021 Afcon Qualifiers is pretty much a must win game.

Consequently the Cranes will be expected to hit the ground running tomorrow when they play their first home game of the qualification campaign against Malawi at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole.

“I think the general recipe for success on the African continent is win your home games and pick up points on the road. So we’ve started we’ve picked up some points on the road and now look to try and win some home games,” McKinstry noted.

The last two qualification campaigns that set the tone for successive Afcon finals appearances, had the Cranes win four of the six home games with the other two games ending in draws.

McKinstry’s predecessors Micho Sredojevic and Sebastian Desabre also saw their teams not concede a goal in that period and coupled with a run of only one defeat in 19 Afcon qualifier home games will raise expectations at the 42,000-seater stadium. “It is all about collecting those points. 12 points will definitely take you to Afcon. 10 or 11 points might take you to Afcon and most times it will. It is one point collected and now we need to keep doing that,” McKinstry added.

The Cranes collected 13 points from each of the past two qualification campaigns finishing second behind Burkina Faso for the 2017 qualifiers while they topped the group en route to the 2019 edition.

McKinstry who was appointed Cranes coach at the end of September has been in charge of two games thus far starting with a 1-0 away win over Ethiopia in a friendly game as well as the midweek fixture.

FIXTURES
Saturday, November 16
Madagascar vs. Ethiopia (4pm)
Ivory Coast vs. Niger (10pm)
Sunday, November 17
South Sudan vs. Burkina Faso, (3pm)
Chad vs. Mali, (4pm)
Uganda vs. Malawi, (4pm)
eSwatini vs. Senegal, (4pm)
South Africa vs. Sudan, (4pm)
Benin vs. Sierra Leone (4pm)
Lesotho vs. Nigeria, (7pm)
Rwanda vs. Cameroon, (7pm)
Congo Brazzaville vs. Guinea-Bissau, (7pm)