It can take Bobby Williamson two hours to fight his way through the traffic of Kampala to take a training session. That is good preparation for a man who is trying to lead Uganda on a football journey into uncharted territory.

Uganda have never been to the World Cup finals, but their Scottish manager could nudge them a step closer if results go his way on Sunday. The road to South Africa 2010 is a long one for the rest of the continent — and would have European nations up in arms. A 14-match trek has to be endured before only five African teams claim a place for the finals.

Williamson says that he has adopted the peculiar driving culture of Uganda since taking over the job in August. “There is no road rage here,” he says. “I’ve had to drive myself quite a few times and it’s completely different to Europe. People come out of side streets when you don’t expect, they all try to nudge their way on to a roundabout. It is every man for himself, but nobody gets upset. You just accept it.

“I thought it would drive me mental, but I’ve changed my outlook — even if it takes me two hours to get across the city.”

If the 47-year-old Glaswegian is revelling in his newfound patience behind the wheel, the task in front of him requires a miracle worker. Not only have Uganda never embraced the World Cup finals, they have not appeared at the latter stages of the African Cup of Nations since 1978. Their defeat away to Niger last month — Williamson’s baptism of fire after succeeding Csaba Laszlo, who joined Heart of Midlothian — dented their hopes of progress.

Uganda are level on seven points with Angola going into the final match and need to beat Benin, the group three winners, in Kampala on Sunday and hope that Angola — whose coach, Luís Gonçalves, has just resigned — draw against Niger, to earn second spot. The 12 group winners from across Africa and the best eight second-placed teams then go into a second-phase group, which produces five winning candidates.

“It is a tough qualifying route,” Williamson says. “The distances are something you don’t appreciate in Europe. For the game in Niger last month we flew from Kampala to Nairobi in Kenya, then got another plane for Mali and then another to Niger. It is not the ideal build-up to a match, but you just get on with it.”

Usually, Williamson can count on six of his best players returning from Europe, but David Obua, the Hearts midfield player, is injured. The former Kilmarnock, Hibernian and Plymouth Argyle manager cannot return to Europe to check on the form of this “foreign legion”, who are scattered across Iceland, Sweden, Serbia and Austria, so he has been immersing himself in the local game.

“I watch two or three Ugandan club matches every week,” Williamson says. “I’ve seen a few players who I think can improve the squad and we also have a regional tournament coming up, when I will make up my squad entirely of home-based players. The skill levels are good, but the real problem is the state of the pitches. They are a shambles. They get overused.”

Lest anyone think that Williamson is simply an archetypal grumbler from Blighty, he shoots that idea down. “The people in Uganda are fantastic,” he says. “They do not have much, but they just get on with life and they always have a smile and are friendly. I was not certain if I was going to enjoy living here, but already I do.

“We are so well-off in Britain compared to what these people live in. Coming to Kampala has certainly broadened my horizons and has been a huge cultural shock, but when you see the people here just getting on with their lives without complaining, you cannot get too upset about what happens in football.”

Williamson’s desire to put down roots will take shape when he swaps his hotel for an apartment. He views his job in a similar fashion. “My remit in Uganda is not just to manage the national side,” he says. “The Ugandan FA want me to look at the grass roots and my two Ugandan assistant coaches have been learning coaching drills from me and going back to their clubs to pass that on. I came here because I was certain that the job will make me a better coach, whatever happens.”

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