Micho satisfied with Namutima campaign

Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic says at least 10 local based players will be available for selection for Cranes' upcoming engagements after the Bunyoro Kitara regional Cranes Na Mutima match played at the Buhinga stadium on Sunday.

He said the Nile Special sponsored match which Cranes won 3-1 helped him gauge the players' fitness levels in the three phased preparations ahead of the CHAN and World Cup qualifiers.

The second and third phase of the preparations involves friendly matches against Ethiopia and Senegal on June 3 and June 5 respectively before their Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Cape Verde on June 11 and the CHAN qualifier against Souther Sudan on July 14.

"We believe out of this quad here at least 10 players can fight for places on team while others will be followed and used later, when you add the professionals who arrive on Tuesday and some of the KCCA players we shall pick one good team that will take us through the campaign," Micho stated.

Micho was particularly impressed with the performance of his ‘first team' that included several Azam league players captained by NIMJE's Hassan Wasswa and included Aalborg's Robert Kakeeto who made his first trial out debut on the team.

"We have spotted different players from these campaigns but most importantly we have brought out the Uganda Cranes brand to the people of Kitara who I would like to thank for their reception and coming in big numbers for the match," Micho remarked.

The Sunday match was watched by a mammoth crowd that thronged the stadium from as early as mid-day.  Emmanuel Okwi opened the scoring for the Cranes from a Martin Kizza delivery before Milton Karisa crossed for Nelson Senkatuka who headed in the second.

Hassan Wasswa then headed the Cranes further ahead from a Martin Kizza corner at the stroke of half time as the hosts struggled to match their more experienced opponents.

In the second half the hosts matched Micho's ‘second team' and even forced a penalty which Beckam Musoki hit on the crossbar but Ronald Kyamanywa  tapped in the rebound for the Bunyoro Kitara side that was assembled from 6 Big League sides.

Isaac Lyne Greys who plays for Scotland's Brechin City also played for the Cranes' second team with Micho promising to make further assessment of him and Kakeeto before deciding whether to consider them for the lined up friendlies.