Coach Sheryl Botes believes great preparation set the base for Uganda’s ability to defend the Cecafa U-17 Women’s Championship that climaxed on Tuesday in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Uganda, which won the first and hitherto last edition in 2019 at Fufa Technical Centre Njeru, beat the hosts 3-0 in the final on Tuesday with late first half goals from Justine Ayerango and Brenda Nassaka while Flavia Yagala added a third in the 48th minute.
“Tanzania overloaded the midfield but the girls showed they have learnt a lot in the past weeks,” Botes said.
“They knew everything we wanted to do and were fighting for every ball. Everything we did was structured – from throw ins to corner kicks,” the South African coach added.
The level of detail that saw Uganda beat Somalia 13-0, Zanzibar 3-0, and South Sudan 4-0 in the group stages then Kenya 3-0 in the semifinals and later Tanzania came from weeks of preparation.
Before the tournament, Uganda had been involved in the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers where they lost to Kenya in the penultimate round in May. The Teen Cranes had dominated Kenya but could not convert that to goals and were eventually ousted 1-1 on the away goals rule.
When the team reconvened for the Cecafa tourney, they started where they left off and sharpened their boots. They also had a friendly in Ethiopia where they came twice from behind to draw 3-3.
The confidence required to score goals grew from that point and the tournament only provided a platform to show us the evidence.
Individual plaudits
Nabirye led Uganda as a creative and goalscoring force, finding the back of the net seven times for a team that scored 26 in five wins and eventually got named most valubale player of the tournament.
Ayerango, on the other hand, found life better as a left winger in this tournament – more than she did as a midfielder during the qualifiers.
Her midfield slot fell to Yagala, who is Uganda’s revelation of the tournament. Mayimuna Namuwaya was also named goalkeeper of the tournament as Uganda did not concede any goal in five games.
Tanzania’s Bahati Kizanguzi was named top scorer with 10 goals. Her Kenyan competition Brenda Achieng scored 13 times but had seven chopped off as they came in their first game against Sudan that was abandoned at 16-0 after the latter remained with six players on pitch as five hobbled off due to injuries. Kenya’s lead was later truncated to a 3-0 win by forfeiture.
Meanwhile, Somalia also won their first ever game in women’s football (at any level) when they beat Sudan 8-2 in the group stages on June 17.
CECAFA U-17 WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Final: Uganda 3-0 Tanzania
MVP: Shadia Nabirye (Uganda)
Best goalkeeper: Mayimuna Namuwaya (Uganda)
Top scorer: Bahati Kizanguzi (Tanzania) – 10 goals