Uganda can defend their Cecafa U-17 Women’s Championship if they beat hosts Tanzania in Tuesday’s final at KMC Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam.
The Teen Cranes won the first and hitherto last edition held at Fufa Technical Centre, Njeru in 2019 and Tanzania, who finished second in the round-robin competition then, will be hoping for the same hosting charm.
Uganda beat Kenya 3-0 in the semis on Sunday owing to first half goals from Shadia Nabirye and Immaculate Acen, plus a Jael Samiyu own goal at the death of the game.
The two sides know a lot about each other after meeting at the penultimate stage of the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in two consecutive years. Last year, Kenya cleansed Uganda while this year, the former advanced on away goals rule after a 1-1 aggregate draw.
Uganda had undoubtedly picked their lessons and in Dar, they had an opportunity to show the same.
“The morale was good, the confidence was good, and the girls knew the game plan,” coach Sheryl Botes, said.
“We also knew that one goal would not be enough as was the case in the qualifiers. The girls are learning fast and we managed to get three,” Botes added.
Initially, Botes thought Group B leaders Uganda would face Tanzania in the semis and even watched their 1-1 group draw with Kenya.
However, a change in result to cancel Kenya’s 16-0 advantage over an injury-plagued and game abandoning Sudan and instead consider it as a 3-0 walkover, switched up things in Group A.
Kenya fell to second place while new group leaders Tanzania faced South Sudan in the semis – eventually beating them 4-0 as Bahat Kizanguzi scored twice. Harriet Juma and Yasinta Kaluwa got the other goals.
“Tanzania play with a compact midfield and have three strong skillful midfielders that can keep the ball.
“They are possession-based side and set up differently with two holding midfielders. Those are things we were and will be looking to read to see how we can exploit them.
“We watched them three days ago (in the group stages) but we also had to watch them in the semifinals because we don’t want any surprises,” Botes said.
CECAFA U-17 WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Finals: Uganda vs. Tanzania, 4pm, KMC Stadium
3rd Place: Kenya vs. South Sudan, 1pm, KMC Stadium
Semifinal Results
Uganda 3-0 Kenya
Tanzania 4-0 South Sudan