Football
Andrew Oryada, Special to ESPN 6y

David Obua unimpressed with Uganda's scoring struggles

Former Uganda international David Obua is concerned that the Cranes' lack of a goal threat is not being addressed by coach Sebastien Desabre.

The East Africans were held to a 0-0 draw at home by rivals Tanzania in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier this weekend, and have now failed to score in five of the Frenchman's eight matches at the helm.

"Scoring remains Uganda's biggest problem," Obua told KweséESPN. "Desabre must quickly address this with his technical team members.

"There's now pressure starting to build after the goalless draw against Tanzania last weekend in the AFCON qualifier."

The match was Desabre's first competitive game with the full Uganda A team, although he's still waiting for a competitive win with any Cranes side after taking just one point from three group games at the African Nations Championship earlier this year.

To date, he has just one win to date - a 3-1 friendly triumph over Sao Tome e Principe in March.

"Football is a funny game," Obua continued. "The first game always gives an impression of a coach to fans, and that is why Desabre is going to be under pressure in the coming games.

"It is not a good time because some of our players are now struggling with scoring," he continued. "Since Farouk Miya left Vipers SC for the paid ranks, goals are not coming that easily for him.

"I think a quick solution must be found for the team to start scoring, because they create many chances, but I don't know what our style of play is these days."

Desabre has taken the reins of the national side following the successful tenure of Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic, who ended Uganda's 39-year wait for an AFCON appearance by qualifying for the 2017 event.

Obua believes that the Serbian coach still casts a long shadow over his successor.

"Because Micho took the team places, unfortunately there's now a benchmark because coaches are judged by results," Obua added.

Uganda opened the campaign with a 1-0 away win to Cape Verde last year before drawing with Tanzania. They will next month face Lesotho in back-to-back games.

Although the Taifa Stars held the Cranes, Uganda remain atop Group L with four points, while Lesotho are second, and Tanzania and Cape Verde are third and fourth respectively.

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