Bevis Mugabi interview: Motherwell defender targeting appearance at 2022 World Cup finals

Uganda, ranked a lowly 80th in the world at the time of that event last summer, stunned 49th ranked Democratic Republic of Congo 2-0 in their group opener on the way to reaching the last 16.

London-born Mugabi (25), who has won 10 international caps since 2018, told the Times and Speaker: “The highlight for me with Uganda was definitely playing in the African Cup of Nations.

“The game that stands out was the first game of the tournament when we beat Congo 2-0.

“People were shocked by the way that we played and how we dominated the game.

“Congo had players from big leagues in and around Europe and they couldn’t get close to us.

“We were putting our name out there as one of the threats within the tournament. We caught a lot of teams by surprise.

“Getting as far as we did and obviously getting out of the group stages, which we’d never done before, it was nice to be a part of history getting to the last 16 (where they lost 1-0 to eventual tournament runners-up Senegal).

“That’s definitely my biggest achievement so far with the Uganda national team for sure. My next ambition with Uganda is to qualify for the World Cup.

“Haven’t we all watched the World Cup since we were kids?

“I have a kind of crazy most vivid memory, it was when (Zinedine) Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi (in the 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy).

“It was such a great tournament and something like that can happen to any of us.”