Uganda Cranes head Coach, Milutin Sredojević has said that the friendly games away against Ethiopia have helped his side to test themselves and identify the combinations of players that complement each other ahead of their TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier against Tanzania.
The Cranes are set to battle Tanzania in a doubled-legged fixture with the first leg set to be played on August 28th in Dar es Salaam, while the return leg is slated for September 3rd September at the St. Marys Stadium in in Kitende. The winner on aggregate will advance to the CHAN tournament to be hosted by Algeria early next year.
After losing the first match 1-0 to Ethiopia last week and drawing 0-0 against the same team yesterday in the City of Adama, Sredojevic says the friendly matches have helped them assess several aspects before they play Ethiopia.
The coach says it was a privilege for Uganda to play against Ethiopia and the matches have helped the technical bench realize which combinations they can use in their do-or-die game against Tanzania. He says Ethiopia was a good side to test Uganda Cranes players considering their previous performance.
Sredojevic further noted that the games also assisted the technical bench to identify the players that can complement each other to rally a formidable side capable of defeating Tanzania.
The Uganda Cranes team is set to connect to Zanzibar where they will camp for a few days before they travel to Dar es Salaam for the match on Sunday.
The CHAN tournament is played between the best national teams of Africa, exclusively featuring players who are active in the national championships and qualified to play in the ongoing season.
The CHAN 2023 tournament was initially slated for July 10th to August 1st, 2022, but the Confederation of African Football (CAF) rescheduled it to January 2023.
Uganda is attempting to participate in the CHAN tournament for the sixth time after appearing in the last five editions in 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021.
According to After the exhibition match against Ethiopia, URN understands that the Uganda Cranes team will depart Ethiopia today for Zanzibar, where they will hold an acclimatization camp before departing for the Tanzanian mainland on Friday.