Zambia invites Cranes

By Daniel SaireTHE Cranes Africa Cup of Nations preparations, have got yet another boost after friendly match confirmations by Zambia and Kenya next month.FUFA secretary Haruna Mawanda said Kenya had invited the Cranes for a match on July 27 but the team would be away in Sudan for a four-nation build up tournament from July 26-30. Chad and Ethiopia are the other countries in the competition.“We have written back asking them to hold the match on August 3,” Mawanda said. He was addressing a Nile Special weekly press conference at Lugogo yesterday.Zambia, on the other hand, has confirmed their presence in Kampala for a match on August 31.The Cranes are also scheduled to have a training camp in Libya before hosting Ghana’s Black Stars on September 7. The winner of the three-team group 13 that also has Rwanda will play in the 2004 finals in Tunisia.Striker Hassan Mubiru finally reported for training at Nakivubo and coach Paul Hasule was a happy man. FUFA had threatened to sanction the player. Hasule said he would talk to Andrew Mukasa who is still missing at the training before a decision is taken against him. Meanwhile, FUFA has fixed August 17 as the election date for regional executive committees.Ends