Africa-Press – Uganda. Back-to-back Fifa World Cup qualifying matches between Uganda and Rwanda on Thursday and Sunday are littered with so many anecdotes that the affair looks weightier than just points.
Both teams are desperate to get it going after dropping points in their first two 2022 qualifying games.
This is a tie that needs little motivation from both sets of camps given how closely knitted they are.
From President Paul Kagame, who once served in the Ugandan army, through to Ugandan-turned Rwandan footballer Meddie Kagere, the relationship is hard to deny.
AS Kigali’s Denis Rukundo and Bugesera’s Samuel Nemeyimana Kato – a potential debutant for Rwanda – are all born and bred in Uganda and have played at Maroons and KCCA, respectively.
Jamil Kalisa of Vipers just joined his Rwanda teammates a few days ago.
Of course, the familiarity and knowledge of each other’s strength and weaknesses is not an exclusivity, because Ugandans as well know their neighbours too well.
In the dugout, no one will know the Amavubi Stars better than Serbian coach Micho Sredojevic. He coached Rwanda before moving to Uganda for his first stint in 2013.
Be it football, basketball, volleyball, name it, Rwanda and Uganda just about always lets the sparks off.
And that is not to mention the on-and-off political tensions between the two countries.
Play it forward
Fortunately, on Thursday in Kigali and Sunday at St Mary’s Stadium, Kitende, the face-off will only need a ball to settle any grievances.
Micho believes that although the Cranes have failed to get the anticipated friendly matches against Tanzania and Burundi, they have prepared fairly well for the Wasps.
They have instead played build-up games against KCCA and URA, which the Cranes won 2-1 and 2-0.
“After failing to get friendly matches, we decided to play a KCCA team that has similar style of play with our opponents Rwanda,” said Micho after the warm-up game at Lugogo.
KCCA were allowed an extra player (12 vs 11) for this one.
“They have put us in a good situation,” added Micho.
“The extra player in their team has played the role we wanted, where time and space are limited, hence pushing us to think fast like in international football standards.”
The most recent encounter between Uganda and Rwanda was at this year’s Chan Championship in Cameroon, which ended goalless.
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