Winning 2 in every 3 games played, Coach McKinstry delivered Uganda their strongest 'win' and 'undefeated' rate in over 15 years (May 2021). 

As Head Coach of the Uganda National Team, the 'Uganda Cranes' (2019 - 2021) Coach McKinstry delivered a 67% WIN rate and went undefeated in over 8 in every 10 games played (12 wins, 3 draws and only 3 defeats).  This represented the highest 'win' and 'undefeated' rate achieved by a Uganda National Team Coach in over 15 years, a performance that can be considered high also by international standards. 

 

In his first 3 months in charge, Coach McKinstry led Uganda to win CECAFA 2019; placed Uganda top of their AFCON qualification group; and secured 9 wins and 1 draw from his first 10 games. 

In winning CECAFA 2019, Uganda did so by winning all six of their matches, scoring fourteen goals and conceding just two.  In securing Uganda's record 15th time win of CECAFA, he did so by winning every game they played in the tournament.  This was only the second time in Uganda's history that they had achieved this feat. 

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic led to delayed fixtures and interrupted team development.  Coach McKinstry however led Uganda to a further win in their AFCON qualification campaign and then an unfortunate 1-0 away loss against South Sudan.  The loss was unfortunate and unexpected. On the pitch, Uganda suffered an early red card incident and were forced to play for 70 minutes with only 10 men.  The team further conceded a separate penalty goal a few minutes after the red card, placing the team at an additional and early 1-0 disadvantage. 

While unfortunate, the away loss represented the Senior National ‘A’ Team’s first and only loss under Coach McKinstry's tenure; and the penalty goal was the only goal conceded by Uganda under Coach McKinstry in their AFCON qualification campaign. 

At the end of week 2 of AFCON qualification, Uganda sat second in their group (2 Wins, 1 Draw, 1 Loss), only one point behind the group leaders, with qualification places awaiting for the top-2 finishing teams. Under Coach McKinstry, Uganda were also the only team of all 48 nations in AFCON qualification to have NOT conceded ANY goals from open play.

Elsewhere, under Coach McKinstry Uganda replicated their previous tournament performances at the African Nations Championship (CHAN 2020). 

 

 

In AFCON, given the strong overall performance and 7 points secured by Uganda under Coach McKinstry in qualifications rounds 1 and 2, it had been projected by International FIFA Rankings experts ‘We Global Football’ that Uganda, would very likely qualify for the finals of AFCON [88% probability, comparing favourably to the other teams in the group - Burkina Faso 98%, Malawi 12%, South Sudan 2%].

However in March 2021, and just 2 weeks ahead of the final AFCON qualification games, the Ugandan football association unexpectedly asked Coach McKinstry to temporarily step aside for a period of one month so that they could assess and monitor the national team's performance in his absence. 

Sitting second in their AFCON group under Coach McKinstry, Uganda needed only to secure 2 (two) points from the final (March 2021) AFCON qualification fixtures against Burkina Faso and Malawi.

In the initial AFCON qualification games against these same teams, Coach McKinstry had led Uganda to secure 4 points (a 2-0 home win and an important away draw).   A repeat of the performance under Coach McKinstry would have seen Uganda qualify for AFCON.  

However, in Coach McKinstry's absence, Uganda did not secure even the 2 points required, and so failed to qualify for AFCON.

In these circumstances, Coach McKinstry secured an agreement to depart his role as Head Coach of the Uganda National Team.

 

Overall, Coach McKinstry led Uganda for 18 matches - winning 12 (67%), drawing 3 (17%) and losing only 3 (17%); scoring 30 goals and conceding 11 (Goal Difference: +19). Comparing games under his management with the same number of games immediately before his appointment, he had improved Uganda's win ratio by 103% (67% Win vs 33% Win previously).

 

Uganda results under Coach McKinstry

13/10/2019	Ethiopia	0 - 1	Uganda (w)
19/10/2019	Uganda (w)	3 - 0	Burundi
13/11/2019	Burkina Faso	0 - 0	Uganda (d)
17/11/2019	Uganda (w)	2 - 0	Malawi
07/12/2019	Uganda (w)	3 - 0	Burundi
09/12/2019	Somalia	0 - 2	Uganda (w)
11/12/2019	Eritrea	0 - 2	Uganda (w)
15/12/2019	Uganda (w)	4 - 1	Djibouti
17/12/2019	Uganda (w)	1 - 0	Tanzania
19/12/2019	Uganda (w)	3 - 0	Eritrea
12/11/2020	Uganda (w)	1 - 0	South Sudan
16/11/2020	South Sudan	1 - 0	Uganda (l)
01/01/2021	Cameroon	1 - 1	Uganda (d)
04/01/2021	Zambia	0 - 2	Uganda (w)
07/01/2021	Niger	0 - 3	Uganda (w)
18/01/2021	Rwanda	0 - 0	Uganda (d)
22/01/2021	Uganda (l)	1 - 2	Togo
26/01/2021	Uganda (l)	2 - 5	Morocco

  

 For more information on Coach McKinstry's performance across a number of his roles to date, you can read 'REVIEW: 20 Years of Coaching - Highlights and Key Stats (March 2021)'