Following Uganda Cranes’ 3-0 loss to the Mediterranean Knights of Libya on June 1 in an international friendly, many Ugandans have launched scathing attacks on new Cranes boss Mulitin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic.
Three first half goals from Muhammad Ali Ganudi, Abubaker Fabid and Faisal Al Badr were enough to hand the Serb a losing debut as Cranes coach following his appointment close to two weeks ago.
Interestingly, Micho followed in the footsteps of his three predecessors Muhammad Abas, Laszlo Csaba and Bobby Williamson who failed to garner victory from their Cranes’ career debuts.
For some fans to call for Micho’s head just after one game is uncalled for considering he had a side that had a squad playing together for the first time. Besides, most of the players were making their maiden appearances on the national team and found such a high profile match a daunting task given they were away from home.
“First of all, we were missing many important players in the team but there are a lot of positives to pick from the game. This game has shown us which players to count on for the Liberian game but it was so high a stage for many players”, said Coach Micho after the game.
It’s unwise not to agree with Micho given that a player like Herman Wasswa was just making his debut and only the second match for Savio Kabugo and Dan Sserunkuma.
Besides Abel Dhaira, Hassan Wasswa, Musa Mudde, Geoffrey Kizito, Hamis Kiiza and maybe Denis Guma, the rest of the players had only donned the Cranes jersey either in CHAN, CECAFA or friendly games and that explains why the Serb made eight substitutions.
That aside, Micho has only spent a week with the team yet five of the players that took to the field against Libya linked up with the team just a day or two to the game.
Like he put it, Libya was a more experienced side than his charges but the fact that he picked positives from the game is an encouragement going into 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Liberia (June and Angola (June 15).
“The game has given us answers to the question on which players are in contention for starting berths against Liberia and Angola since they are competitive games”, Micho put it clear.
With this statement, expect to see the tried and tested Andrew Mwesigwa, Godfrey Walusimbi and Henry Kalungi return at the back with Denis Guma only the constant in the back-line that started in Tripoli. Not forgetting reliable Isaac Isinde.
Upfront, Geoffrey Massa and Emmanuel Okwi also return while Tony Mawejje and the tricky Martin Mutumba will be contenders for slots in midfield.
Though in reality the Cranes are not in pole position to qualify for the 2014 World Cup event in Brazil, the remaining three games must be used to instill confidence in the boys as we plan for the 2015 and 2017 Africa Nations Cup plus 2018 World Cup.
Nevertheless, the 3-0 thumping in Libya must be a wake-up call to Micho and his charges going into the home games against Liberia and Angola.
