Cranes seek to regain pride as regional tour heads east

What you need to know:

Soccer. The last time out Uganda Cranes were stunned 1-0 in the ‘Cranes Na Mutima’ Tour by a West Nile outfit dominated by Onduparaka players at the Green Light Stadium in Arua. That was in March.

Kampala. With most professional leagues in the world, Uganda inclusive, scheduled to begin in August/September and end in May, many players are currently off season.
So how do you set up a Cranes team, two months away from a crunch tie.

And with the same team tasked to feature in a semi-competitive game against a regional team eager to humiliate you?
For current Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic, the response was to travel with four foreign-based players Hassan Wasswa, Yasser Mugerwa, Denis Iguma and Murshid Juuko for this weekend’s tour match against Eastern region.
This is in addition to including four players from the second tier Big League and the others coming from the top-flight domestic league.
“We want to give some youngsters a sense of what it means being in Cranes and also give senior players in off season preparation to go back to their respective clubs in good nick,” Micho said about his selection.

“We also want future professional players to get a feel of what pro-football is all about.” Onduparaka trio of Gadafi Wahabu, Rashid Toha and Muhammad Shaban made the cut while goalkeeper Nafion Alionzi missed out. There will also be the small matter of avoiding another embarrassing defeat after the West Nile team featuring the above named trio condemned the Cranes to a 1-0 defeat.
The Nile Special and Airtel sponsored tours have had the Cranes previously win in Western, North East, Northern and Kitara regions.