CAIRO: Uganda Cranes captain and first choice goalkeeper Denis Onyango together with head coach Sebastien Desabre have addressed the media on Wednesday in the first of the many press conferences for the TOTAL Afcon EGYPT 2019 finals in Cairo. The press conference was held Cairo International stadium the venue for Saturday’s match between Uganda Cranes and DR Congo.
The duo shared the values of team work and diligence as far as Uganda Cranes’ progress at the campaign is concerned starting with the opening match where the CECAFA giants face neighbours Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Saturday, 22nd June 2019.
L-R: Denis-Onyango-Sebastien-Desabre-and-Ahmed-Hussein-moments-after-the-official-pre-match-press-conference-in-Cairo-Egypt.
‘We shall need to work as a complete team. To get as far as we can, we need to get the best use of the team quality. We have camped for a long time in Abu Dhabi and virtually all the players know each other well. Football is a team sport. You cannot win a game when you are playing individual football. Against DR Congo, we need that first victory because it always pushes us further. Our goal is to go past the group stages,” said Onyango.
The head coach Desabre was equal to the task as he boldly underlined the team’s aspirations.
‘The Uganda Cranes team is ready to compete at the 2019 AFCON finals in Egypt. The players are ready to give the maximum. We have good organisation, cohesion and quality in the team basing on values of working together. Each player has a task to play together. As a complete unit we shall achieve alot. The spirit is good enough. We camped in Abu Dhabi to get used to the weather here in Egypt. The weather was not good for us in the first week but we later acclimatised to it. I am happy with the camp we had in Abu Dhabi’,” said Desabre.
After the first training session in Egypt at the Arab Contractors stadium on Tuesday, the team will once against train on Wednesday afternoon (same venue).
The squad
Then on Friday, there will be the final training session (open to the media for the first 15 minutes) before the match on Saturday.
The team is accommodated at Radisson Blu Hotel in Cairo.
