{"id":11512,"date":"2021-06-03T15:03:34","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T15:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=11512"},"modified":"2021-06-03T15:01:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T15:01:51","slug":"skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match","title":{"rendered":"Skipper Okwi eases in newbies ahead of Bafana Bafana match"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\">Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Emmanuel Okwi\u2019s first dressing room team talk as Uganda Cranes captain revolved around making the newbies \u201cfeel at home.\u201d Part of coach Abdallah Mubiru\u2019s 34-man squad undergoing residential training at Lugogo is dominated by new faces as the team transition takes shape.<\/p>\n<p>And yesterday\u2019s was the first session Okwi took part in since being named national team captain after replacing retired Denis Onyango. \u201cIt\u2019s all about making the new boys feel at home and safe,\u201d Okwi, the Al Ittihad striker, told Daily Monitor yesterday.<\/p>\n<p><b>Time to enjoy<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told them to feel free and just enjoy themselves. It\u2019s all about respecting each other and knowing that we are in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Okwi also revealed he has been in touch with his armband predecessor, Onyango, regarding the striker\u2019s new role.\u201cDenis is a a great friend,\u201d said Okwi, \u201cI respect him a lot. Always. He congratulated me and wished me well.\u201cFor me, he is still spiritually present in the team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>First outing<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Next Thursday\u2019s friendly against South Africa\u2019s Bafana Bafana in Soweto ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifying trip to Kenya will be the first for Okwi as the official Cranes captain.\u201cIt (the game against South Africa) gives us a great opportunity to test ourselves,\u201d said Okwi, 28.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey (South Africa) also didn\u2019t qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations like us, so we shall push each other as we both try to get back to our best. It\u2019s a good rehearsal for Kenya.\u201dPatrick Kaddu, Derrick Kakooza, Yunus Ssentamu and Allan Okello are some of the forwards that could find themselves playing next to Okwi.<\/p>\n<p>Winger Abdu Lumala and defender Mustafa Kizza are the other foreign-based players that trained with the team yesterday.Express in-form man Eric Kambale has not trained with the team, yet, as he is reported to be in self isolation in the wake of the new wave of the Coronavirus strain.<\/p>\n<p><b>PROVISIONAL SQUAD<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Goalkeepers: Isma Watenga, Charles Lukwago,Simon Tamale, Mathias KigonyaDefenders: Elvis Bwomono, Innocent Wafula, PaulWilla, Mustafa Kizza, Aziz Kayondo, Halid Lwaliwa,Murushid Juuko, Gavin Kizito Mugweri, WalusimbiEnock, Patrick Mbowa, Kenneth Ssemakula,Hassan Muhamud Midfielders: Taddeo Lwanga, Moses Waiswa,Bobosi Byaruhanga, Ivan Sserubiru, Bright Anukani,Shafic Kagimu, Isma Mugulusi, Abdul Lumala,Ibrahim Orit, Joseph AkandanwahoForwards: Emmanuel Okwi, Richard Basangwa,Patrick Kaddu, Derrick Kakooza, Yunus Ssentamu,Eric Kambale, Allan Okello<\/p>\n<p><b>amwanguhya@ug.nationmedia.com<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Uganda. Emmanuel Okwi\u2019s first dressing room team talk as Uganda Cranes captain revolved around making the newbies \u201cfeel at home.\u201d Part of coach Abdallah Mubiru\u2019s 34-man squad undergoing residential training at Lugogo is dominated by new faces as the team transition takes shape. And yesterday\u2019s was the first session Okwi took part in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-11512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Skipper Okwi eases in newbies ahead of Bafana Bafana match - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Emmanuel Okwi\u2019s first dressing room team talk as Uganda Cranes captain revolved around making the newbies \u201cfeel at home. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Skipper Okwi eases in newbies ahead of Bafana Bafana match\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Emmanuel Okwi\u2019s first dressing room team talk as Uganda Cranes captain revolved around making the newbies \u201cfeel at home. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-03T15:03:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/06\/img-60b8eec070e31.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Skipper Okwi eases in newbies ahead of Bafana Bafana match\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T15:03:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match\"},\"wordCount\":413,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/06\/img-60b8eec070e31.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/skipper-okwi-eases-in-newbies-ahead-of-bafana-bafana-match\",\"name\":\"Skipper Okwi eases in newbies ahead of Bafana Bafana match - 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