Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup enters quarters stage

The 2015 Council for East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa) Senior Challenge Cup enters the quarterfinal stage starting Monday at the Addis Ababa Stadium.

   Coach Milutin Sredojevic's Uganda Cranes team will enter the fray first with a highly-billed game against guest side Malawi.

   To reach the last eight, Malawi won their first two games against Sudan and Djibouti before falling to South Sudan in the last group C tie.

   Their leading scorer Chuikepo Msowoya told Xinhua that they will not take Uganda lightly. 

   "After losing to South Sudan we are coming out more determined to win against Uganda," he said.

   Uganda who are the 13-time record winners of the regional trophy are also eager to grab the title again after last winning it in 2012.

   "We are taking this tournament very seriously because we are using it to prepare our team for the 2016 Africa Nations Championship in Rwanda," said Sredojevic.

   The Cranes started the tournament with a 2-0 loss to defending champions Kenya last Sunday before recovering to humble Zanzibar 4-0 and completing their group B engagements with a 1-0 win over Burundi.

   Tanzania who have showed good form in the tournament and are one of the teams yet to suffer defeat will face hosts Ethiopia in the second quarterfinal game on Monday.

   South Sudan on Tuesday will take on arch-rivals Sudan while Rwanda battle defending champions Kenya.  Endi