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As one of the three hosts for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), there is a burden of expectation on Uganda both from within and outside.
From stadium quality, to roads and hotels, perhaps nothing beats the need to ensure that the Uganda Cranes are also equally competitive once the first ball is kicked. On Friday, June 5, The Cranes take on Tanzania, before facing Madagascar on Monday, June 8 in two international friends to be held in Morocco.
Cranes Belgian coach, Paul Put summoned a 28- man squad for these two friendlies from which he intends to form a formidable team for next year’s Afcon. It will be the first time that Put meets his players again after the failed Afcon 2025 campaign that was hosted by Morocco between December 2025 and January 2026.
And from that tournament, it was evident that there was still a lot of work to do, before The Cranes could con- sider themselves as a team that belongs at that stage. Besides the fact that The Cranes only scored three goals and conceded seven in three group games, there were a number of areas that needed critical assessment.
In fact, they are the areas that Put is placing emphasis on, as he engineers the team’s construction. Put emphasized the fact that his team struggled significantly in the final third as not only did they fail to consistently create chances.
But they also failed on a number of occasions, to put away the few that they created. Put has been looking for a box-to-box midfielder, that does the needful at both ends of the field.
As a result, he has summoned the towering midfielder Nobel Okello, who plies his trade in the USA. Okello will have a chance to prove his qualities, bringing competition to Bobosi Byaruhanga, who has been a Cranes player for the last three years.
Add another US-based player in Allan Oyirwoth, and Joseph Seremba of NEC FC and Put has a widened pool of players to consider for the engine room. Notably, Put has continued to pursue Fufa’s programme to try and look for more players abroad with Ugandan roots.
Unlike before, Herbert Bockhorn from German side FC Magdeburg has honoured the invite. Born to a German father and Ugandan mother, Bockhorn, together with Charlton Athletic’s Nathan Asiimwe have a chance to solve Uganda’s challenges at right-back.
In addition, with Uganda’s scoring problems well documented, domestic forwards Richard Basangwa and Frank Ssebufu, who played at the 2022 Chan tournament in Algeria, has returned to the fold. They join Ivan Ahimbisibwe, this season’s UPL top-scorer with 14, to provide new solutions.
Related
, https://observer.ug/sports/afcon-2027-cranes-team-building-takes-centre-stage/
