Cranes plan North Africa build-up ahead of Senegal tie

Uganda Cranes are leaving nothing to chance as they plan a friendly game away in North Africa before they face Senegal in a crucial 2014 World Cup qualifier.

Mujib Kasule, a member of the team’s technical wing and also Vice President in-charge of leagues, revealed to a source on Tuesday that they decided to zero in on a team in North Africa so that the Cranes can acclimatise to the conditions.

“We are still in talks with some nations that we cannot reveal now,” added Kasule.

The Cranes have targeted North Africa after they discovered that the match will be played in Morocco instead of Conakry, Guinea, where Senegal played all their other games.

Senegal have not been using their home ground due to a FIFA and CAF ban because of crowd trouble.

“We have been told our match will be played in Morocco and we are only waiting for communication to confirm,” said head coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic.

The Cranes, who improved their chances of qualifying for the last stage of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers after home wins over Liberia and Angola, need an outright win against Senegal in September.

“We still have a good chance to qualify for the next stage. We simply need to work so hard before this game and pray that most of our key players are injury free in September,” said the coach.

The Cranes have been very bad travellers and recently lost to lowly ranked Liberia in March during a 2014 World Cup qualifier in Monrovia.

But in after securing a 1-0 away win over Tanzania in a 2014 Africa Nations Championship qualifier, the coach says the belief to win away will come with time.