Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon 2017

Ghana Vs Uganda

After 39 years of waiting, the Ugandan flag will be raised today in Gabon as the Uganda Cranes also the National team of the year on the African Continent takes on Ghana, the cranes will start their Cup of nations campaign without defender Murushidi Jjuko and the 23 year old Khalid Aucho who are sidelined for having picked up many yellow cards but Micho has more talented options at his disposal to pick replacements from, as usual Micho is likely to go with four defenders in the back, five midfielders and one striker, Geoffrey Massa the Cranes Captain will definitely be the one fielded upfront in Michos 4:5:1 formation and the midfielders will by all means contain popular names like Tonny Mawajje and Faruku Miya and then Wadada and Ochaya will feature in the back, The African player of the year 2016 happens to be Uganda’s number one goal keeper as well, Denis Masinde Onyango who plays his professional football in south Africa with Mameround sundowns was named the best African player of the year and ranked 10th best Goal keeper in the world just ahead of some of the big names in football like Arsenal’s goal keeper peter Cech in 11th position. The Cranes side have faced Ghana three times in just a space of two years and in these three meetings the cranes won once in Kampala and drew twice away in Accra the Capital of Ghana, with this kind of history it looks normal for the Ugandan side to be facing Ghana or even more Normal in favor of the cranes but you must keep in mind that this Ghana side played the AFCON finals in the last cup of nations campaign and they lost to Ivory coast on penalties, they have more European professional players in the squad with the likes Andre Ayew (West Ham England), Mubarak Wakaso (Panathinaikos Greece), and Captain Asamoah Gyan playing for Al-Ahli in United Arab emirates, Ghana will definitely have Gyan leading their striking line but he is 31 years old and that makes it a little bit easier for the cranes defenders to manage him but Christian Atsu and Ayew will strongly depend on his intelligent final ball distribution if they are to get any break through against the Ugandan solid back side, but my take on this game is a draw for both sides not allowing to be penetrated but the Cranes have been lucky on many occasions and they could be a surprise team of the tournament if they start with a win against Ghana, I will go for a much reserved Uganda win - Ghana 0:1 Uganda.