HASSAN Wasswa, the Uganda midfielder, admits that a loss to Egypt on Saturday would signal the end of their Africa Cup of Nations dream.
They are now bottom of Group-B without a point while Ghana top the group with three points, while Mali and Egypt are second and third respectively.
Uganda lost 1-0 to Ghana at the Stade de Port-Gentil on Tuesday night making it hard for them to recover from a group that looks like a tough nut to crack.
Wasswa admitted that they will have to inflict more frustrations on Egypt who played to a 0-0 draw against Mali also on Tuesday.
“We just have to work hard and make sure that we go past Egypt,” sid the Nijmeh midfielder.
“The north African club are a tough nut to turn but we have seen their weaknesses and our coach (Milutin “Micho” Sredejovic) has been working on capitalising on them.
“Trust me, they are tough and not easy to play against. This tournament will be won by a team that has really worked hard. When you work hard in a tournament then you will get the result. But for now the focus is on us and not other teams. Uganda are a big team and can play better football too.
“We cannot go to the game scared of Egypt because that would be our downfall. “We have to take each game as it comes. We will give them a run for their money. I know we can do it. On our first match we made a silly mistake and we got punished. We will be looking better in our next game since we’ve worked on our mistakes.
“We will perfect all our chances. There is still an open chance for all the teams to qualify for the quarterfinals. But remaining matches are must-wins for all. And Uganda have the power to qualify. You see these big teams come here thinking they will get the points out of Uganda, and that is where we are going to cut them on their backside. We will punish them.”
He added that people talk about experience and inexperience in Afcon “but we at Uganda work as a team and not in silos”.
He added: “We don’t have big name players but just have to push hard. We lost to Ghana because their players are all over Europe but we showed that we can play too – it is not about the names but the team.”
With all said, he said theirs now is to work on their mistakes and come back a better lot: “This is something that we need to correct and make the best out of it.”
His teammate Afriyie Acquah, who plays for Torino FC in Italy, added: “First half against Ghana we tried our best, but like with any other team, we couldn’t finish the open chances we craeted. The next game we will work hard. Move to the next game.”
Geofrey Serenkuma said this competition has just started and no one is guaranteed a place in the knockout phase, as yet.
“This is where experience will count more than anything,” he concluded.
