Bobby threatens to dump Cranes flops

By Abdallah Mubiru in Dar Es Salaam

CECAFA Challenge Cup

Tuesday, 4pm, SS9

Uganda v Tanzania/Zimbabwe

BOBBY Williamson has promised to wield the axe on a number of Cranes flops if there is no drastic improvement in the ongoing CECAFA Challenge Cup tournament.

 The Scot’s reaction followed his side’s sluggish display in the 1-0 defeat to Burundi last Thursday.

“If you abuse this chance, you never know I may never consider you for future national duties.

“My task right now is to assemble a serious team that will face Congo Brazzaville early next year for the 2013 Nations Cup qualifier,” Williamson reminded his players during a team briefing yesterday.

 In the build-up to the regional tournament, Williamson’s focus was identifying a group of players that would replace a majority of Cranes’ first team ageing stars ahead of the 2013 Nation’s Cup preliminary play-off with Congo and 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

However, Thursday’s defeat to Burundi left him concerned.

Williamson has had four days to revise his side’s game plan and hopes for a better display in their quarterfinal fixture against either hosts Tanzania or Zimbabwe on Tuesday.

Moses Oloya, Robert Ssentongo and defender Henry Kalungi, who have had partial contributions in the group matches will be accorded more playing time.

Team captain Andrew Mwesigwa will return from suspension while Abbey Dhaira has shown marginal improvement since going down with malaria.  

On Friday, Rwanda thumped Djibouti 5-2 to finish top of Group ‘A’  while Ethiopia were eliminated from Group ‘C’ following a 1-1 draw with Malawi.