The Northern Irish coach remains confident the Cranes will beat any team in the Africa qualifiers for the World Cup
Ugandan coach Johnny McKinstry has stated they are ready to face any team in the African qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.
The draw for the qualifiers will take place in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday, where a total of 54 African nations who took part in the qualifying phase will learn their opponents to ultimately determine which five nations will represent the continent in Qatar.
Speaking ahead of the draw, McKinstry, who took over the Cranes mantle from Sebastien Desabre, insists the country can make it to Qatar with proper planning and pointed out the team’s win against Egypt at home during the past qualifiers as a stepping stone to do better this term.
“We are looking forward to draw, and particularly that the roadmap for qualification to Qatar 2022 will now be clearly laid out in front of us,” McKinstry told Goal.
“Last time out, Uganda finished 2nd in a group containing Egypt, Ghana, and Congo; including defeating group winners Egypt 1-0 in Kampala.
“As such, we go into this qualifying campaign confident that we can compete with the very best teams in Africa, and that with good planning and preparation can realistically target improving on our 2nd place finish in the last campaign.”
Uganda are placed in Pot Two for the draw alongside West African nations Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Gabon and Guinea, African champions Zambia, Congo, South Africa, and Cape Verde.
Neighbours Kenya are in Pot 3 while Rwanda and Tanzania have been placed in the fourth pot. Pot One has giants Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Egypt, Tunisia, Mali, Algeria, Mali, and DR Congo.
The third Pot has Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Libya and Mozambique, Central Africa Republic, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Niger, and Guinea Bissau while the final pot (four) has Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Angola, Togo, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Djibouti.
The format of the draw will see the 14 first-round winners joined by the 26 highest-ranked African nations in the most recent Fifa World Ranking (as of December 2019). The 40 teams will be drawn into ten groups of four, with only the section winners advancing to the third round.
No team from the East African region has ever qualified for the World Cup and Uganda will be leading the way this time for the elusive slot.
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