Micho takes positives from Libya defeat

Jun 03, 2013

IT was baptism of fire that new Cranes Coach Multin Micho Sredojovic has accepted to take with a positive attitude ahead of the qualifier against Liberia

By Swalley Kenyi in Libya

Libya 3 Uganda 0

2014 World Cup qualifier

Uganda v Liberia (Saturday)

IT was baptism of fire that new Cranes Coach Multin Micho Sredojovic has accepted to take with a positive attitude ahead of their 2014 World Cup qualifier against Liberia on Saturday.

And if the Serb is to be believed, his troops’ 3-0 defeat to Libya in Saturday’s friendly in Tripoli International Stadium was a blessing in disguise.

He has promised to overhaul the team before Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Liberia at Namboole.

Sredojevic (picture left) conceded that there couldn’t have been a better wake up call. 

“Just imagine if we had played Liberia without any friendly match!,” wondered the former Rwanda coach, who will have his first major assignment as Cranes tactician on Saturday.

Sredojevic partly attributed the result to poor refereeing but still noted that the match gave him a clear picture of the various players’ capabilities.

“The referee may have not been fair for us to express ourselves fully but I now have a picture of what this team is capable of. I gave everybody (player) a chance to play.”

“I now know which players are ready to face Liberia and which players are not ready for the high (big) stage,” he told New Vision soon after the game in Tripoli.

The Cranes, who approached Sredejovic’s first game since taking over the job from Bobby Williamson last month, with optimism were ruptured with three goals in the first 30 minutes.

There were all signs that the new defence line-up of Ivan Bukenya, Israel Emuge, Joseph Ochaya and Denis Iguma still needs many more similar matches to gel.

Much as they at times displayed flashes of individual sparkles, team play was poor.

They were torn to shreds as early as the eighth minute. Cranes skipper of the day Abbey Dhaira jumped high for a long ball and instead of punching it away, he chose to catch it consequently dropping it for a waiting Mohamed Al Garoudi to tap in.

The subsequent two goals were contestable as the referee appeared to ignore Ayman Zayed, Garoudi and Salem Abalou in offside positions for the former to slot past Dhaira for the second goal.

The Tunisian referee surprised everyone with a penalty against Cranes’ central defender Ivan Bukenya for a sliding tackle against Ayman.

Second half substitute Geoffrey Sserunkuuma was man of the match for Cranes with four shots at goal as he troubled the Libya’s defence.

The stout striker had come in for Henry Kisekka, who had more falls than the two stray attempts at goal.

Kisekka’s hitherto striking partner Hamis Kiiza kept pressuring but with little impact.

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