Uganda's victory over Kenya gave them a record tenth Cecafa Cup title
Ugandan players and coaches have reacted bullishly to their Cecafa Cup victory, saying they hope it brings them the respect they deserve.
"I'm pleased for all the players, they've worked ever so hard since we came into the tournament," coach Bobby Williamson told the BBC after his team's 1-0 win over Kenya in the final on Tuesday.
"Nobody really gave us a chance, even our own people.
"We've proved them all wrong and hopefully people will start to show a bit of respect to these guys."
Tournament top scorer Tony Mawejje was one of Uganda's star players
"A lot of words have been said about this team, like it's a youth team or an amateur team," captain Andy Mwesigwa said.
"For most of the guys, this is their first international engagement.
"But they have shown that they are not youths, well they are youths of course, but they are mature in terms of football."
Both coach and captain were quick to look to the future and the Cranes will now seek to build on the achievement of winning a record tenth Cecafa title - their first in five years.
"I think Uganda has a great future with the present team," Mwesigwa said.
Williamson said he will be meeting with the Federation of Ugandan Football Associations (Fufa) to work out a way to keep the current crop of players together.
He remains optimistic, however, particularly after his side enjoyed an unbeaten cup-winning run, scoring 16 goals and conceding just one on home soil.
There was a trophy at stake here and we've delivered it and set a record for Ugandan football
Uganda coach Bobby Williamson
"Every game we play we want to win," he said.
"It's going to be difficult [to continue to win games] because there's still a lot of players out there who never had a chance in this tournament and I'll need to see them playing at some stage.
"So we'll win games, we'll lose games, but we've won them when it mattered.
"There was a trophy at stake here and we've delivered it and it set a record for Ugandan football also, so I'm very pleased for everybody connected with Uganda."
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