National Under- 17 women team will come out firing from all cylinders, seeking Uganda scalp in the first leg of the second round of the 2020 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tanzania will host Uganda this afternoon at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam and Head Coach Bakari Shime insisted that they will go for nothing else but a convincing win to put themselves in a comfortable zone ahead of the return leg clash in Kampala in two weeks’ time.
The winner on aggregate between Tanzania and Uganda will face Cameroon in the final hurdle to determine the three teams that will represent Africa at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India from November 2nd to 21st this year.
Both teams know each other well as they met last year in the Under-17 CECAFA women championship at Njeru Uganda, which ended with a 1-1 draw. Shime said that his team is ready to face Uganda as they have been training for a while to build strength, confidence and coordination.
“Technically, many things have been accomplished… we have had a sustainable programme to keep the team strong. Our players are well prepared for tomorrow’s (today) game,” he said. Speaking at the press conference, the U-17 Captain Irene Kisisa told journalists that her team is ready for today’s game, while acknowledging that Uganda is one of the good and competitive teams.
“We acknowledge Uganda’s ability, they are a good and competitive side but our team has trained well under the mentorship of our coaches. We are strong and ready to face them,” she said.
On the side of the Ugandan national team, the Head Coach, Ayub Kiyingi has confirmed that his team had undergone intensive preparations for the past two weeks, equipping the girls with the tactics and knowledge that his players will do the job well.
He also identified that his team is on loss as two of his players face an injury. The players include defender Stella Musubika and midfielder Kevin Nakacwa, who are sidelined by knee and thigh injuries respectively.
“We will definitely miss the two players but again have trust in players available and we have prepared to fill the gaps left by the two injured players,” he said.
“We have played a couple of practice matches to fine-tune the different departments and can confidently say our striking and midfield departments are more than ready for the task at hand. In the defence we still have a few things to iron out and these also by Sunday we hope to have mastered them,” he added.
