Africa-Press – Uganda. Uganda women teams’ coach Sheryl Botes believes she saw enough in the 1-1 draw with Cameroon at St. Mary’s Stadium Kitende on Saturday to believe the Teen Cranes have all it takes to go further in the Fifa U-17 Women World Cup qualifiers.
Cameroon’s physical presence was clear from the onset as only Uganda’s Brighton-based defender Bethany Kaluya could match them in size. Botes knew what to expect and used two midfield blockers in Agnes Nabukenya and Bushira Nalunkuma to shield the backline with Esther Nangendo ahead of them.
“We knew they were going to play through the wings and I believe we handled the physicality well,” Botes said as she praised her girls for interpreting the game plan well.
It was not easy and even Botes had to deviate from her promise. In her first home match as Uganda’s coach, this young team would have been expected to have the liberty to show her philosophy but they went long on goal kicks and barely built from the back.
Understandably, the coach had two weeks to learn the players. Right-back Promise Kwagalakwe had to be guided throughout the first half by both Botes and her assistant Charles Ayiekoh on positioning her body facing forward while at one point Kaluya ran through the pitch after getting treatment to get to the touchline as play was restarting.
Cameroon burnt the Ugandan full-backs Kwagalakwe and Faridah Namirimu, who also has to improve enormously in possession, with the pace of Sophie Lemana and Andree Melgrid Bilong but the midfield fell back quickly to help. The centre backs Kaluya and captain Desire Katisi Natooro were alert to the danger while goalkeeper Lillian Nakiirya’s ability to quickly come off her line helped.
Settling in
“You will find that two to three players did not settle in as quickly as we wanted but you have to give them time. You cannot take a player off after 10 minutes because then you lose a substitute easily.
Fortunately, in the first half, she was our side and we could guide her but in the second half she was on the other side and you cannot communicate properly,” Botes said.
In the 34th minute, Nabukenya and Shadia Nabirye combined for the former to give Uganda the lead. However, in the second half, fatigue started to take its toll on some players as they tried to win the ball a little higher up the pitch. Cameroon equalized against the run of play in the 50th minute when Nakiirya, who had stepped off her line, struggled to deal with Ernestine Heutchou’s strike from the edge of the box.
Repetition
“They (Cameroon) started to capitalize and push through our midfield during transitions. We were high up and the players were not getting back in position fast enough. It is something we have to continue working on but it is about repetition, repetition and more repetition,” Botes said.
With home advantage and the expectation of a nation that has been to the U-17 World Cup twice, Alain Djeumfa Cameroon will definitely try to enforce their physical abilities even more in Yaounde but Botes has a plan already.
“Not all is lost. We have the chance and the players to progress. We showed that we can cope with Cameroon but maye we need to play a little quicker to displace them from position.”
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