Football
Andrew Oryada, Special to ESPN 5y

Uganda must rally around out-of-form players - Wasswa

Uganda's Hassan Wasswa has urged the Cranes' senior players to rally around some of the squad's out-of-form stars as they look to secure a return to the Africa Cup of Nations.

The East Africans meet Lesotho in a qualifying double-header during the upcoming international break, having been held to a goalless draw by Tanzania last month.

Wasswa believes that it's the responsibility of the team's more experienced heads to compensate for Uganda's under-performers as they look to return to the continent's top table.

"We are not having a good time," Wasswa acknowledged to KweséESPN. "We have been having difficulties since we started playing build-up games under our new coach [Sebastien Desabre] and only beat Sao Tome and Principe.

"It's up to the players to up our game, especially the strikers," he added. "I know Farouk Miya is known for scoring crucial goals for Uganda and Emmanuel Okwi as well, but the two have not been having a good time.

"We the senior players need to push the other players more, because Ugandans are hungry to see a home win when we face Lesotho on October 13."

Despite their underwhelming draw with Tanzania, Uganda still top AFCON qualifying Group L with four points after having defeated Cape Verde at the start of the qualifying campaign.

However, their standing cannot completely disguise the fact that Frenchman Desabre is yet to win a competitive game as Uganda coach since taking the job in late 2017.

"We know we failed to beat Tanzania, and yet many Ugandans thought we should have won," Wasswa continued, "but we are working hard at our respective clubs before we come together as the national team and fight to beat Lesotho.

"After qualifying for the 2017 AFCON and dominating the CECAFA region, we know that we must win our games and go back to AFCON.

"Playing Lesotho will be like a cup final because we badly need three points before we visit them in Maseru a few days after.

The experienced defensive player believes that improved focus will be key to securing an improvement in results under Desabre.

"We just need to concentrate and win this do-or-die game," he concluded.

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