Cranes have defensive concerns ahead of CHAN

Cranes have defensive concerns ahead of the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN).

A squad of 26 players entered camp at Njeru Technical Centre in Jinja on Tuesday ahead of the event scheduled from January 16 to February 7 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Amongst those who were dropped on the team was Vipers defender Shafik Bakaki and Lweza captain Ibrahim Kiyemba.

Unlike Kiyemba who was not part of the CECAFA team, Bakaki has been one of Micho's most dependable central defenders.

He has however been replaced by Richard Kasagga, due to inconsistent performances.

"We looked at their fitness during the first four days of training and later selected the players basing on merit and nothing else.

Out of the 20 players who were in CECAFA, 17 managed to be part of the team that was selected," Micho stated.

Tanzania-based defender Murshid Juuko partnered Kasagga at the just concluded CECAFA tournament where Uganda beat Rwanda1-0 in the final.

Although the Juuko-Kasagga combination helped Cranes to CECAFA success, it denied Uganda a chance to develop defensive partnership for CHAN as Juuko is ineligible for the tournament.

Cranes' coach Micho Sredojevic now finds himself with a dilemma of fixing the team's defensive troubles from an inexperienced pool of players that includes Hassan ‘Dazo' Wasswa.

Kizza is a surprise inclusion SC Villa midfielder Martin Kizza is a surprise inclusion in the team considering the fact that he had just returned from injury. BUL midfielder Mike Ndera, currently on loan at Villa and SCVU's Farouk Kawooya would have been better candidates.

The two players are some of the best wingers in terms of assists and scoring. Micho however explained that Kizza had shown more effort in the team's first four days of training.

CHAN, Cranes' matches
Group D
January 19
Uganda v Mali
January 23
Uganda v Zambia
January 27
Uganda v Zimbabwe
Friendly Games
January 10
Uganda v Gabon
January 13
Uganda v Cameroon