Uganda’s football federation requested the coach of the Uganda Cranes, Johnathan McKinstry, to step aside for the month of March, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), however, did not give any reasons for the decision in its statement.
“The FUFA Executive Committee has asked the Head Coach of the National Senior side-The Uganda Cranes Mr. Johnathan McKinstry to step aside from managing and coaching the team for the period from 2nd- 31st March 2021,” the statement said.
FUFA said it will use the period to assess and monitor the performance of the national team.
In the meantime, Assistant Coaches Mubiru Abdallah, Mbabazi Livingstone and goalkeeping coach Fred Kajoba will take charge of the team.
“The rest of the Technical team remains unchanged,” the statement added.
McKinstry began coming under pressure following a shock 1-0 defeat to South Sudan in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in November having just defeated the same opponents by a similar result a few days before.
Uganda’s failure to make it past the group stage of the 2020 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cameroon earlier this year compounded matters for the Northern Irishman.
Uganda’s senior team is currently second in Group B in qualifying for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations which will also be hosted in Cameroon next year. The Cranes have seven points, one behind leaders Burkina Faso and three ahead of Malawi and four ahead of South Sudan.
Uganda is due to play Burkina Faso on March 24 before concluding its campaign against Malawi.
McKinstry took charge of Uganda in October 2019 on a three-year contract replacing Frenchman Sebastien Desabre.
