KAMPALA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Uganda has maintained its dominance in the Council for East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa) region as the latest Federation for International Football Association World ranking released on Thursday, and the coach was happy for that.
Although the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup holders slipped by one place to 85th, they remain the best ranked in the region.
"This is very good for us because it shows that we are still a force to reckon with and we need to work harder to get into the top 50 just like our brothers Ivory Coast," Jackson Mayanja, assistant coach of the national team Uganda Cranes told Xinhua in an interview on Friday.
Ethiopia who took part in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations also improved their placing by two places to move to 112th, while Tanzania was placed on the 119th and Burundi 124th.
Ivory Coast maintained the place as the best placed African country at 13th with 1022 points. European champions Spain kept the lead on the ranking, while Germany and Argentina are second and third respectively.
Meanwhile, Uganda Cranes attacking midfielder Tonny Mawejje has opted out of the team that was summoned last week for the March 24 away World Cup qualifying tie against Liberia.
"The player told us that since he has not been with a club for sometime, he is a little unfit and would want to work hard to regain his good form first," Uganda Cranes spokesman Malibu Katende told Xinhua in an interview.
The former KCCA FC player in the Ugandan League and IBV FC in the Icelandic Pepsi League has been without a club since late last year after his contract was not renewed.
"We have decided to call striker Robert Ssentongo to replace Mawejje," confirmed Livingstone Kyambadde, the coordinator of the team and FA Vice President in-charge of technical matters.
Mawejje has been very outstanding for the Cranes in the last five years and is expecting another contract with by IBV to return to the club. The FA official said they did not think of bringing another midfielder because they had summoned enough, and simply decided to recall Ssentongo who features for Ethiopia's St. George FC.
Uganda is second behind Senegal in Group J.
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