Thursday, January 5
•Uganda Vs Cameroon, 4:30pm
Uganda Cranes coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredejovic says that he will bring in fresh faces when his side face Cameroon in the second friendly.
The team is in Tunisia preparing for the forthcoming CHAN tournament that gets underway on January 13 in Algeria.
In their opening friendly on Tuesday, the Cranes were held to a 2-2 draw against Sudan with Karim Watambala and Ibrahim Orit on target.
They now face the A’ Lions of Cameroon at the Chedly Zouiten Stadium in Tunis before Mali on Sunday.
“We look forward to the match against Cameroon, and we shall do a rotation aspect having in mind that we need to check on all players because we are here with 25 players but we are going with 23 final players to the final tournament,” Micho said.
Against Sudan, URA goalkeeper Nafian Alionzi started in goal but Joel Mutakubwa is expected to start ahead of understudy Jack Komakech.
Ashraf Mandela and Derrick Ndahiro were at fullback, but James Begisa (UPDF) and Isa Mubiru (Vipers) may get a nod this time.
Hillary Mukundane and Geoffrey Wasswa were in the heart of defence, but Micho may try out the Villa partnership of Gift Fred and Kenneth Semakuka.
Siraje Sentamu may pave way for Marvin Youngman in the starting lineup in the anchor role.
Moses Waiswa and Karim Watambala started on Tuesday but Bright Anukani and Travis Mutyaba may be the likely replacement.
Nelson Senkatuka will fancy his chances to lead the line ahead of Frank Sebuufu (Wakiso Giants) who started in attack against Sudan.
Wingers Milton Karisa and Ibrahim Orit may take the rest, with the other players who were on the bench in Najib Yiga, Titus Ssematimba, Moses Aliro and Rogers Mato set to be considered.
But it remains to be seen if the Serbian coach will be making wholesome changes.
Micho said that focus will be put on defending “because there is an old rule in football that says that you can never score as how many you concede.”
He added: “We need to keep level of the attacking on the level we kept however we need to improve so much on the point of keeping tight at the back and defending.”
Cameron left Younde on Tuesday after weeks of training at the CAF Centre of Excellence in Mbankomo.
The team of local based players is coached by Alioum Saidou (not Rigbert Song who is the head coach of the senior team).
They will be captained by defender Yves Alain Dooh Moukoko while Jerome Ngom is a big threat in the attack as he was one of two local-based players who made it to Cameroon World Cup squad in Qatar.
The side will give Uganda Cranes a good test due to their experience having featured at four CHAN tournaments, including finishing fourth in the previous edition (2020) which they hosted – They lost 4-0 to eventual champions Morocco in the semis.
Cameroon who clinched quarterfinal finishes twice in 2011 and 2016, are this year grouped against Congo Brazaville and Niger in their three-team group in Algeria.
