Micho faults referee, breaks down Uganda Cranes' loss to DR Congo

Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic feels that the centre referee was too harsh to award DR Congo a penalty as his Uganda Cranes team lost 1-0 in an international friendly on Wednesday in Douala, Cameroon.

Uganda was using the match to prepare for the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Algeria on Sunday at the same venue.

Spanish-based forward Theo Bongoda struck from the spot to give former Cranes coach Sebastian Desabre his first win over Uganda after leaving in 2019.

No penalty

Micho was particularly not convinced with the referee’s decision to award the penalty to the Leopards.

Aaron Tshibola had set up Bongoda to find space for a cross on the by-line in the 23rd minute. The Cadiz forward crossed his legs and hammered a pass which was intercepted by Halid Lwaliwa's sliding body.

The centre referee Florent Dimayo pointed to the spot without a second thought.

“It [the loss] is something hard to explain because we started on the wrong foot,” Micho noted before adding, “I believe the penalty was not supposed to be there, putting in mind that the player (Lwaliwa) was already falling to the ground and he could not control his hands and it was decided.”

Missed chances

The coach broke down his team’s wasted chances as well;

“We had the biggest chance from the first half from the [Farouk Miya’s] corner kick.

“We changed the approach in the second after realising that the opponent was using the central midfielders to build and sending the fullbacks high, so,” he explains further, “we added players who would hold the ball much better the way Basangwa did.

“He helped the team to initiate attacks and created an unbelievable chance which we failed to convert.”