Cranes take on Mali as they seek respectable end to World Cup campaign

🔴 Mali 🇲🇱 vs Uganda 🇺🇬 7pm

Casablanca, Morocco | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Cranes will this evening faceoff with Mali in the last group game of the FIFA Qatar World Cup qualifiers campaign at Stade Adrar in Morocco. The Cranes will be playing to accomplish the tournament since Mali has already confirmed their advancement to the playoffs round.

Mali’s win against Rwanda took them to a four-point lead at the top of Group E with only one game left to play. As it stands, Mali has thirteen points while Uganda who is second in Group E has just nine points.

The Cranes head coach Milutin Sredojević alias Micho, says that said they are going to do rotations in the team, giving playing time to players who didn’t take part in their last game against Harambe stars in Kampala.

The Cranes will enter the game searching for a victory to accomplish the game with an unbeaten run since the kick-off of the campaign.

The tactician also said that all players in camp are ready to face Mali, adding that although the opponent has players from the top European leagues, he believes his boys will give them a hard time

Kenya washed out Uganda’s Hopes once again of qualifying for their maiden FIFA World Cup at St. Mary’s stadium in Kitende.  Their match ended in a one-all draw.   Uganda went into the clash against Kenya with an intention of securing the maximum three points if they were to reduce the gap between them and the group leaders Mali, which had ten points then. However, as the two teams tussled it out in the East African derby, Kenya was resistant and held Uganda to a one-all draw.

The Harambe almost reiterated the 2011 incident when they denied the Uganda Cranes a ticket to the 2012 African Cup of Nations. Uganda needed victory over Kenya to secure her ticket to the 2012 continental championship.

According to the qualifiers’ format, the team that finishes on top of the group will advance to the third round. On this round, ten teams that top all their respective groups will be drawn into five home-and-away ties. The winners of each fixture will advance to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qat