Cranes to Play Ivory Coast in a Pre-AFCON Friendly

Uganda Cranes have secured a date with one of the continent’s football powerhouses, Ivory Coast, for a friendly match on June 15 in the United Arab Emirates ahead of AFCON 2019 in Egypt.

Cranes head coach Sebastien Desabre has confirmed this development as he puts final touches on the roadmap for preparations as the Cranes return to the continental showpiece for the second time in a row.

“We have already secured that game and we are working on having another friendly match on June 9th that we shall announce later,” Sebastien Desabre, Uganda’s head coach said on Monday.

Cranes will camp in in the UAE for three weeks before flying to Egypt on 17 June, with their objective to qualify for the knock-out stage.

“We shall take every game as it comes and we are already scouting around the other teams we shall face,” he added.

Uganda is in Group A along with the AFCON 2017 quarter-finalist DR Congo, seven-time record champions Egypt as well as Zimbabwe.

The Cranes open their campaign against DR Congo on June 22 at Cairo International Stadium before facing the Warriors of Zimbabwe four days later at the same venue.

Uganda will conclude their group matches with a tricky match against the Pharaohs on June 30.

This year’s edition has been expanded from 16 to 24 teams and with the top two teams of each group, along with the best four third-placed teams advancing to the round of 16.