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Mato scored, who scored four against Soltilo Bright Stars on the final day of the season, ended up with 11 and, incidentally, was the last player to score a goal for the Cranes.
When Uganda Cranes head coach Milutin Sredojevic named his final team to take on Algeria in their penultimate match of the Africa Cup of Nations, SC Villa top scorer Charles Bbaale was left out.
The striker was one of the top-performing players in the Startimes Uganda Premier League as the Jogoos put up a fight in the title race before falling short on the final day.
Bbaale’s 12 goals had him second on the scoring charts, behind eventual top scorer Allan Kayiwa, who had 13.
Fred Amaku (10) and Sharif Kimbowa (9) are the other strikers who put up decent numbers in the league, but both were ignored for national duty.
08:45 - 08.06.2023
AFCON 2023 Q Mukundane, Opondo, Watenga dropped as Micho names Uganda Cranes team to face Algeria
Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic has named the Uganda Cranes team to face Algeria in the 2023 AFCON qualifier MD5.
Bbaale’s exclusion left KCCA FC’s Rogers Mato and Vipers’ Milton Karisa as the players with some goals in them on that Cranes team.
Mato, who scored four against Soltilo Bright Stars on the final day of the season, ended up with 11 and, incidentally, was the last player to score a goal for the Cranes.
His stoppage-time winner against Tanzania in Dar es Salam after coming off the bench kept Uganda on track in the qualifiers, and he could get the opportunity to start against Algeria.
The other player who has been in good form in front of goal is Karisa, whose last appearance saw him score the winner in the Stanbic Uganda Cup final.
Karisa scored the first goal for the Cranes in the qualifiers in the 1-1 draw with Niger.
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10:23 - 08.06.2023
FOOTBALL The ten Uganda Premier League players on Uganda Cranes final team
Of the 23 named, ten players ply their trade in the Startimes Uganda Premier League, probably highlighting the level at which the league is.
Generally, Uganda have struggled to impress in front of goal, scoring just twice in the first four games of the qualifiers.
Both Mato and Karisa are not out-and-out strikers and chip in with goals coming off the flanks.
Team captain Emmanuel Okwi and Fahad Bayo are the two frontmen selected by Micho to lead the search for goals.
Statistics show that Okwi has only scored three goals for his club Erbil in Iraq.
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Bayo, on the other hand, has only got two goals in 14 matches for his side MFK Vyškov in Czech National Football League.
Players like Faruku Miya have chipped in with goals once in a while and might have to fill the void when the strikers fire blanks in front of goal.
Uganda Cranes AFCON Qualifiers results
Algeria 2-0 Uganda
Uganda 1-1 Niger
Uganda 0-1 Tanzania
Tanzania 0-1 Uganda
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