One of the frustrations of international football coaching as echoed by Cranes coach Jonathan Mckinstry, is the amount of time players spend away from their respective national teams.
And while the current Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the situation, McKinstry opted for a more positive outlook after continental governing body Caf announced changes to the Afcon 2021 and World Cup 2022 qualifiers that were postponed earlier this year.
“2021 will be a very busy period with the CHAN finals, AFCON qualifiers, FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the CECAFA,” McKinstry told the fufa.co.ug.
“ It will be good for us. The more the players are together, the better for us to plan.”
“We shall advance our playing time even further because we shall have a lot of time with the players. The players are hungry to be back in action,” he added.
Cranes top Group B of 2021 Afcon qualifiers with four points from two games, with Burkina Faso and Malawi following and South Sudan bottom.
After initially being postponed in March, the Match Days 3 and 4 2021 Nations Cup Cameroon qualifiers will now be played between November 9 and 17 with the finals hosted by Cameroon in January 2022.
This consequently means teams will now have readjust their preparations with Uganda seeking a third consecutive appearance at Afcon.
“We already had preparations but there will be a complete review. We shall go back to review because the squad we named in March is not the same squad we shall name in November.”
“For example, in March, Farouk Miya was injured and not considered. But now, he is well and fit. For Abdul Lumala, in March, he had come back and was playing well for Pyramids but he is now recovering and will be reviewed,” the coach added.
Elsewhere, new dates for the Fifa World Cup 2022 qualifiers have also been confirmed, Match Days 1 and 2 to be played between May 31and June 15. Matches Days 3 and 4 are due August 30 and September 7.
Afcon 2021 qualifying fixture dates
Match Day 3 and 4 (9th – 17th November 2020)
Match Day 5 and 6 (22nd – 30th March 2021
The Cranes play South Sudan in November
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