Amavubi fans wary of Cranes threat

AMAVUBI may be the only unbeaten side going into this afternoon’s Cecafa Tusker Challenge Cup final but local fans are not getting carried away. Uganda Cranes play Amavubi in the final with new coach Milutin Sredojevic Micho looking to win Africa’s oldest tournament after just two months in the job

Friday, December 09, 2011

AMAVUBI may be the only unbeaten side going into this afternoon’s Cecafa Tusker Challenge Cup final but local fans are not getting carried away.

Uganda Cranes play Amavubi in the final with new coach Milutin Sredojevic Micho looking to win Africa’s oldest tournament after just two months in the job.

Elias Mugisha, a business man in Remera who left yesterday morning for Dar-es-salaam to watch the final, is optimistic the wasps will win their second Cecafa title but urges the players to exercise caution.

"Their winning streak is a big boost and is a physiological advantage but the flip side is that over confidence may cost them.”

Meanwhile, Aimable Ndiyasaba, a banker with Coge Bank reckons that Amavubi will be spurred on by the 2009 defeat.

Uganda cranes defeated a youthful Amavubi side 2-0 on that occasion.

"There is a healthy rivalry between the two teams, so all of them will be desperate to win.

But there is the element of revenge in the national side for losing in 2009 so this should give the wasps extra impetus to win tomorrow (today),” the 27-year-old said.

On the way to the final, Rwanda beat Tanzania (1-0), Zimbabwe (2-0) and Djibouti (5-2) at the group stages before knocking out Zanzibar (2-1) and Sudan (2-1) in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.

Amavubi last won the trophy in 1999.