THE national Under-20 Women football team Head Coach Bakari Shime has commended his charges for staging a massive comeback to win 2-1 against Uganda at the National Stadium in Dare s Salaam on Sunday.
The two teams met in the first round of the FIFA U-20 Women World Cup qualifying match ahead of the second leg tie to be played on February 1st this year at the StarTimes Stadium, Lugogo in Kampala and the winner of the two legged tie will make it to the next round to face winner of the match between Sierra Leone and Senegal.
It was the home team which had to come from one goal down to emerge winners courtesy of two second half goals from Diana Msewe in the 65th minute and Opa Clement in the 70th minute to launch their qualifying campaign in style.
For the visitors, Julieth Nalukenge scored her side’s only consolation goal in the 47th minute but it was too little to give them vital away victory.
“Tactically, it was a good match for both teams but I have to laud my players for staging a perfect comeback to win the tough game,” said Shime in a post match interview.
He added that of all the matches he has been in charge, it was the first time to post such a remarkable performance while trailing from behind saying it has given them good experience.
“After scoring the equalising goal, we came back into the match and sourced the second goal which consequently enabled us to win prior to the return encounter,” he said.
Moreover, Shime said it was their plan B which worked well for them.
In her reaction, Mary Lauwo, who is the senior national women team player said the 2-1 home victory means Tanzania will be compelled to work extra harder to stop Ugandans at their territory.
“It is almost like a draw for them (Uganda) but I am sure that the coach has seen where to upgrade his squad in order to post away triumph,” she said.
On her part, Uganda’s trainer Oliver Mbekeka said a 2-1 loss was much better for her team while aiming to use well the upcoming reverse match.
“We have not lost. The outcome is good for us. If we managed to score here, we can do the same in Uganda. Let me praise my team for displaying good performance likewise, Tanzania played good football but they need to watch out in the reverse match,” she said.
The 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will be staged in Costa Rica and Panama from August 2020 of which Japan are the defending champions who won their first title in 2018 in France.
The 16 participating teams will be divided into four groups of four with the best two of each group advancing to the quarter finals.
This will be the first ever co-hosting of a FIFA youth tournament and the second co-hosting of a FIFA tournament since the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan.
Nigeria lost their bid to become the first African country to host a global women’s tournament after Fifa chose Costa Rica and Panama as joint hosts for this year’s competition.
