Africa-Press – Uganda. Crested Cranes coach George Lutalo believes he has the team to put up a commendable show at the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (Awcon) due July 2-23 in Morocco.
Uganda, which returns to the showpiece for the first time since 2000, were on Friday drawn alongside hosts Morocco and the highly-rated Burkina Faso and Senegal in Group A of the competition that doubles as a World Cup qualifier.
“We are happy to have players doing well in the league like (Hasifah) Nassuna, Shadia (Nankya) and others,” Lutalo said.
“We have some turning professional and many others who have already been on professional stints like (US-based Yudaya) Nakayenze, (and counterpart Tracy Jones) Akiror and Viola (Nambi) plus the goalkeeper (Ruth Aturo).
“So we have good players but we need to organise them to get results. It’s good we’ll have the Cecafa tournament to help us build that momentum,” Lutalo added.
The Crested Cranes are ranked 157th in the world, the lowest in the tournament that will have 12 teams, while Morocco are ranked 77th by Fifa.
Burkina Faso and Senegal who complete the group are ranked 137th and 89th, respectively.
The draw pitted Uganda against fellow unknown quantities but they at least avoided Group C that has last edition’s finalists Nigeria and Cameroon.
The unenviable ‘honour’ of meeting them fell to Botswana and Crested Cranes’ fellow East Africans Burundi.
Group B would also have been tough on paper for the Cranes as it has Cameroon, Olympians Zambia, Tunisia and Togo.
Lutalo, who initially said in a video released by Fufa that it is a tough draw, insisted on the sidelines with Daily Monitor that “you can only know about the level of competition after meeting the teams. I cannot say for sure that it is a fair draw but we will have a good tournament.”
His optimism is shared by Akiror, who was hosted on a Caf Twitter space – comprising media personalities, administrators and players – on Saturday night to discuss the draw.
“After 22 years, this kind of exposure means a lot to us. Everyone will come ready to compete so we are backing ourselves to do the same,” said Akiror.
Our game has been growing if you look at our league. But most importantly, because Fufa have been trying to give us the opportunities to take part in many youth and senior competitions,” Akiror said.
The midfielder singled out Juliet Nalukenge and Fauzia Najjemba as the some of the youngsters she expects to see shine at the tournament.
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