KAMPALA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Uganda FA has confirmed that the national team will face Guinea in their first international friendly match on January 6th in Rabat, Morocco.

Ahmed Hussein, spokesman of the FA told Xinhua that instead of facing Cameroon as had earlier been planned, the team will now face Guinea and later Congo Brazzaville three days later as they prepare ahead of the 2018 Total Africa Nations Championship (CHAN).

Hussein said that the two build up matches are geared towards assessing the players' readiness for the main tournament. Newly appointed coach Sebastien Desabre will use the two matches to access his players and also adapt a team strategy ahead of the tournament.

The CHAN tournament which will bring together 16 national teams will run from January 13 to February 4 in four towns of Morocco. Uganda who will be based in Marrakech will play alongside Zambia, Namibia and Cote d'Ivoire in Group B.

It will be Uganda's fourth appearance at the Africa Nations Championship after making their debut in 2011 in Sudan. The Cranes also featured in the 2014 event in South Africa and last year in Rwanda. Uganda who are the best ranked nation in the Council for East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa) have however failed to make it past the group stage in all previous CHAN appearances.

The Africa Nations Championship will attract Morocco, Mauritania, Guinea, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Namibia, Zambia, Uganda, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Rwanda, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Congo Brazzaville.