By Brian Bariyo Tumuramye
Kampala: Police FC’s Abdallah Mubiru has been named as interim coach of the Uganda Cranes preparing for the African Championship of Nations (CHAN) 2020 qualifiers.
This is the second big assignment ex-international Mubiru has been given this year, after guiding Cranes to the COSAFA tournament in May. It was a baptism of fire for the coach, as his Cranes teams were edged by Lesotho in the quarterfinals, before losing to South Africa in the plate tournament.
Mubiru will be assisted by Livingstone Mbabazi, Sadiq Wasswa and former Uganda Cranes captain, Geoffrey Massa.
This development was revealed by the FUFA President Moses Magogo at a press conference hosted on July 10 at their headquarters in Mengo.
“We have appointed these people on interim basis. But if they want to apply for the role of Uganda Cranes coach they can go on. We have opened applications for both Ugandans and non-Ugandans to take up that position of being Cranes coach,”Magogo said.
The four appointed on interim were in charge of the Cranes team that competed in COSAFA Cup that was hosted in South Africa last month.
The team replaces former Cranes coach Sebastien Desabre who terminated his contract to join Egyptian club Pyramids FC after Uganda had been eliminated by Senegal in the ongoing Nations Cup in Egypt.
Meanwhile, the Somalia Football Association (SFA) confirmed that they will hosts the Uganda Cranes in a 2020 Total Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier in Djibouti.
Arab Abdiqani, President of the Somalia FA on Wednesday said they will host Uganda Cranes on July 27th in Djibouti before the return leg in Kampala in August.
“Because of the political situation in Mogadishu, we cannot yet host an international game there. We have decided to play our games in Djibouti,” he said.
Uganda Cranes was drawn to face Somalia in the first round before they face the winner between Burundi and South Sudan in the final phase of the qualifiers. Cameroon will host the 2020 CHAN.
