International friendly: Cranes arrive Nigeria today!

Ahead of Wednesday’s international friendly against the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the Cranes of Uganda will arrive Nigeria today, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed.

Players and officials on the delegation are expected to fly into the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja via Addis Ababa, and will then connect to Uyo aboard a local flight from Abuja.

The Cranes, as the Ugandan senior men’s national football team are known, who gave Ghana’s Black Stars a scare in the qualifying race for the 30th Africa Cup of Nations and had a chance to make the finals until they lost their last match in the race to Guinea, will be aiming for a first–ever victory on Nigerian soil.

They have replaced Bolivia, who were initially scheduled to be Nigeria’s opponents in Wednesday’s fixture, after the South Americans pulled out due to ‘security reasons’.

Eagles will then play the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in Rustenburg three days later, also in another international friendly. The last time both countries met was during the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Uyo, with the game ending 2-2, which ended Nigeria’s chances of defending the title they won in 2013 in South Africa.