Ugandan Cranes Look to Ghana

Kampala -- The Cranes' 0-1 loss to Cape Verde away on Saturday is a closed chapter, Fufa technical committee boss John Ssemanobe said yesterday.

The Cranes, missing four dependable players, lost to the Islanders in the second game of the World Cup/Africa Nations' Cup 2006 group two qualifiers.

Ssemanobe told The Monitor yesterday that the team, which returns in the country tomorrow morning, would resume preparations for the Ghana game immediately at Mandela Sports Hotel.

"I can only come up with a formal statement about the national team's loss after the arrival and receipt of the report from the leader of delegation. But as of now, we can leave the loss at that and concentrate more on the Ghana game.

"Our hopes are definitely high that we beat Ghana here as this is very important in our campaign. In fact we shouldn't afford to lose," said Ssemanobe.

Ssemanobe said that he hadn't established the seriousness of James Odoch's injury but confirmed Sulaiman Tenywa's availability during the Ghana encounter.

The Ghana match is planned for July 3 at -Namboole. Uganda snatched four points from Ghana the Africa Nations'