The Uganda Cranes have officially started their journey to the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup finals.

After passing the first COVID19 test hurdle, the players and officials turned up at Kabira Country Club Hotel, Bukoto in the right frame of mind.

Head coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic was joined by the fitness and performance director Franck Plaine, Goalkeeping coach Fred Kajoba Kisitu, team manager Geoffrey Massa and other officials.

Three thirds of the earlier summoned team turned up for the two hour session whose main focus was on fitness, stretching and some ball work.

Majority of the locally based legion were present with the exception of players from Express and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) who were at the 2021 Cecafa Kagame Cup in Dar es salaam city, Tanzania.

Skipper Emmanuel Arnold Okwi, Yunus Sentamu and Egyptian based winger Abdul Lumala are also expected in camp as soon as possible.

Micho was impressed by the right attitude and mentality from the players during the training session.

‘We have started the journey to the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualification process. Every successful journey begins with a single step and today, we have started. I am impressed by the mentality and attitude of the players. I will continue to monitor the performance of everyone as we intensify the sessions’ Micho disclosed.

Fitness and performance director Plaine entirely handled the physical aspect of the training session.

Hassan Muhammod, a defender at Police Football Club looks forward a great time at the sessions and believes he will come good.

‘We had our first training session on Monday morning. It was lively and good to be back to action after a long spell out. I expect to play catch up in remaining session” Mahmood stated.

Vipers’ captain Halid Lwaliwa was equally delighted to return to competitive football after the COVID19 lockdown. Lwaliwa believes the competition within the team will spur them to great performances.

‘I am happy to be back to the field of play after a lengthy time out because of the COVID19 pandemic lockdown. I know, we shall all compete well to perform to the best of expectations’ Lwaliwa revealed.

Soka25east.com