Uganda coach Mulitin Sredojevic hopes his side's heavy 3-0 defeat to Ivory Coast in a pre-Africa Cup of Nations friendly could be a blessing in disguise.
A superlative second half display saw the defending champions dismantle the Cranes who had beaten Slovakia and lost Tunisia in previous warm up matches.
Sredojevic wants to put lessons from their abject display to good use at the tournament in Gabon.
''It's a blessing in disguise that it happened before the tournament,'' he told Kawowo Sports.
''It makes us aware what criteria and standards we need to have in order to get first goal, first win, first passage to quarter finals after 39 years.'
''What negatives I saw and positives we pick, we shall serve to players in man, partnership, department, group and team management polishing approach.
''The highest competition in African football demands highest level of focus and concentration on details and when you don’t take care of them you get rude awakening.''
Uganda's first match will be against Ghana on 17 January.