The 36 years of wait
ing since their last appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations is the motivating factor behind why Uganda Cranes are working so hard to make it to the 2015 finals in Morocco, coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic has said.
Sredojevic, who led the Cranes to qualification for the 2014 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa, is hoping that he can drive his team to realise this dream. Uganda qualified for the group stage of the 2015 AFCON qualifiers after seeing off Madagascar and Mauritania.
The CECAFA giants will face Ghana on September 6 in Kumasi in the first Group E encounter, before returning to host Guinea at the Mandela National Stadium, Namboole.
Togo, who will be led by Tottenham Hotspur striker Emmanuel Adebayor, will have two back-to-back games against Uganda in October.
He said although the group opponents are established teams with great quality and huge number of top class professionals, garnished with enormous financial injection from their governments, his team is hungry to make a statement.
“Whatever numbers of top professionals they have, we shall approach it with motivation and the big dream to qualify after 36 years of absence,” Sredojevic told Tidesports source.
He also said the Cranes’ dream to qualify for AFCON is much bigger than the usual obsession of the group opponents to be there.
Sredojevic has said he is doing everything possible to have a build-up game before traveling to face Ghana on September 5th at the Baba Yara Sport Stadium.
He disclosed that together with the Ugandan FA, they are trying to make sure the team can play an international friendly match before the Ghana game.
“The players need to get some playing time in their legs ahead of the visit to Kumasi,” added the coach.