Uganda Cranes head coach Sebastien Desabre believes they have to win their opening match in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals if they are to go far in the competition.
The East African nation will open their campaign on Saturday against DR Congo, before facing Zimbabwe and later take on hosts Egypt.
As reported by Kawowo, the Frenchman is targeting maximum points against DR Congo to ease the pressure on his team.
“Of course people think I have an advantage, having trained some of the players on the Egypt team, but I will not have much hope on that, it all has to be on the pitch.
“The most vital game for us is the game with Congo. Our first game can determine our fate. We must win the Congo game so that we play the rest with less pressure.
"Our ambitions are so high. And to win you have to take some risks. I have told my boys to play with confidence and take some risks while attacking. To win you must score which comes with taking risks.”
Desabre says the main objective is to help the team to perform better in this year's Afcon and leave a mark in the competition.
"My ambition is to write a good memory with my team. We did very good things during the camp and the motivation is really high,” Desabre continued.
“We expect good results from here but the main objective is on improving the previous result Uganda had in the Afcon, then we can aim higher after that."
Cranes played two pre-Afcon friendlies against Turkmenistan and Ivory Coast, registering a barren draw and a 1-0 win respectively.
