Micho's Second Stint Starts On A Bad Note As The Cranes Fall To Ethiopia

In preparation for the World Cup qualifiers match against Kenya next month, Uganda fell to a 2:1 loss to Ethiopia in a friendly match played on 29th August,2021.

The match played at the Bahir Dar Stadium on Sunday saw the Cranes fall to two goals from Nasir Abubeker in the 11th minute, and Abel Yelew in the 54th minutes that marked a losing start to a second stint at the Cranes by Micho.

Reigning Uganda Premier League Top Scorer Yunus Ssentamu scored the only goal for the Cranes in the 57th minute but was not enough as it turned out into a consolation for the Ugandan side.

However, despite the loss, Uganda Cranes head coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic is confident there were some lessons taken as the match gave his side a real test ahead of the qualifiers encounter bagainst Kenya.

"The match was very important as it pointed out to the test of the players. We got the answers because in football you either win or learn the lesson. We saw shortcomings of the players and what they are capable of and how best to improve before the FIFA World Cup qualifiers" he noted.

Uganda Cranes captain Emmanuel Okwi admitted a poor display by his side who were dominated througout but said it gives them a task to go back and check themselves..

"The game against Ethiopia exposed us and it has given us the due challenge on how to improve amicably before the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Kenya and Mali are not exactly like Ethiopia but we shall further check ourselves" Okwi said.

Uganda plays away to Kenya in the World Cup second round qualifiers on Thursday 2nd September,2021 before taking on Mali at home four days later.