Micho frustrated by goal-shy Cranes

By Swalley Kenyi

International friendly

Uganda 1 Seychelles 0

Tuesday

Uganda v Malawi

FIFA and CAF coaching instructor and acting Seychelles national football team tactician Ulric Mathiot has urged Uganda Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic to preach patience among Ugandan strikers if the national team are to win matches with big margins.

This was after Uganda Cranes scored only their fourth goal in the last three matches (Western Region 1-0 and North Eastern region 2-0) in the international friendly against Seychelles at KCCA Stadium at Lugogo on Friday.

Farouk Miya missed a penalty midway through the first half but netted shortly after as the Cranes appeared to have misinterpreted Micho’s repeated appeal for them to play a high tempo game and were clearly impatient on the ball.

“Uganda has good playing speed. They have defensive discipline but the coach needs to advise his strikers to be patient to score goals. Their movement is good too but they need to observe where they are shooting the ball,” Mathiot advised.   

Winger Joseph Ochaya, striker Miya, midfielder Ivan Ntege and defender Denis Iguma all took shots hurriedly throughout the game in a bid to score.

Micho is worried is that Cranes woes infront of goal are becoming chronic.

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Cranes will face Malawi in yet another international friendly ahead of the upcoming AFCON qualifier. Photo by Mpalanyi Ssentongo

“I am working to ensure that we attack from left, right and the centre because we need goals. But you will notice that we (Cranes) have always won with one goal margin. Scoring is a chronic problem in Uganda,” Micho said after the match.

Meanwhile, in a bid to pay back, FUFA has decided to reward football fans with U-17 Africa Nations Championships qualifiers at Namboole.

The second round qualifier against Rwanda was due to be played on July 18 and FUFA had set sh10000 and sh5000 for pavilion and open stands respectively at the KCCA Stadium.

But FUFA finance director Decolas Kizza said on Friday that fans would be required to pay for the U-17 encounter and the Uganda Cranes 2015 Africa Nations Cup qualifier at once.

Both the Cranes and the Cubs matches will now be played at Namboole at 2:00pm and 5:00pm respectively.