CHAN: Uganda v Tanzania preview

By Fred Kaweesi

CHAN, second leg
Uganda v Tanzania (Saturday 27 at 4pm)
Charges
sh10, 000 (Stands)
sh25,000 (VIP)

KAMPALA - When Cranes qualified for the Africa Nations Championship in 2011, Hassan Wasswa’s football career seemed to be on its deathbed.

Apart from struggling to command a starting place at Turkish second division side Kayseri Erciyesspor at the time, he had to battle against a jail term over alleged possession of drugs within the same period.

But such are Wasswa’s fighting qualities that all his damning past has been consigned to history.

The combative midfielder even had to return to KCC FC to revive a career that almost ended prematurely.

Uganda Cranes play the Taifa Stars on Saturday on the back of a 1-0 advantage they secured away in Tanzania.

Now after months of hard work, Wasswa believes that the highlight of his road to recovery would be guiding Uganda to the continent’s second most prestigious showpiece in South Africa.

“It will mean a lot to me if I can captain the team to South Africa. All I can say is that the team is really determined to achieve that and that we will give it our best,” Wasswa stated before the team’s training session on Thursday.

Although Wasswa originally started as a defender at KCC in 2006, he has successfully performed in his midfield defensive role over the last couple of years.

During the 1-0 win over Tanzania a fortnight ago, he made many marvel at his performance. Throughout the game, there was vision and energy to amaze.

Cranes faithful will demand something similar against a Taifa Stars side that has shown interest of throwing caution to the wind. “We know how dangerous they are, particularly on the wings. We have done our homework on how to close them down and how to attack when the opportunity arises,” he added.

“We will also need to avoid the mistakes we made in Dar es Salaam. It’s a game of our lives. The spirits are high within the team and we just need to stay focused,” he added.

The host fans are expected to be in full voice on Saturday as they were back in Tanzania.

On Saturday, Micho’s tactical acumen will be put to the test yet again.

The Serbian will be challenged to remulate some of the principle roles that have worked wonders in previous games and that is chose the right tactics, select the right players, squeeze the best performances out of them and make tactical adjustments where necessary.

Micho has previously shown that he is a man of surprises. It will be interesting to see if he will decide to retain the team that earned him victory in Dar es Salaam or reshuffle the team to allow a different tactical formation.

The clear changes will be on the left where Brian Majwega will start in an attacking role to allow Habib Kavuma squeeze in at left-back.

Despite the advantage, Cranes will play an attacking game, applying consistent pressure on the visitors with speed in the wide areas, where Majwega and Kyeyune will be vital considering the lack of firepower upfront.