Africa-Press – Uganda. Uganda national women’s teams coach Sheryl Botes is pushing for reforms after her Teen Cranes fell 2-1 to Zambia in the penultimate round of the 2024 Women’s World Cup Africa Qualifiers.
Uganda lost 2-0 away in Zambia the other Sunday then played tennis with the visitors goalkeeper Mwila Mufunte in a 1-0 win at home last Friday at St. Mary’s Stadium Kitende.
Botes made changes opting for Ritah Nambuusi ahead of Bethany Kaluya, who was slow against the Zambians forwards in Lusaka, in defence while Charity Katusiime also started ahead of Bushira Nalunkuma in midfield.
The changes worked, especially in the second half when Agnes Nabukenya dropped back from striking to midfield – switching positions with Katusiime, as Uganda dominated the ball and pinned Zambia back to their box but it was a delicate balance for the girls who had to score at least twice to draw level on aggregate and also not concede to give the visitors an away goal advantage.
The pressure told as they missed several chances; Kabene had three one-on-ones with the goalkeeper, Nabukenya hesitated to shoot on two occasions and had a shot from a corner kick saved after Esther Nangendo’s freekick had been parried by the goalkeeper behind the line.
Finally, Uganda found a breakthrough against their own plan. A long hopeful ball from left-back Faridah Namirimu could not be cleared by the Zambian defence and Kabene took them on, turned them, had her first shot saved back into her path by Mufunte, a second shot blocked again into her path and then the third shot finding the back of the net in the 73rd minute.
The players, especially Nabukenya, also stuck to coached set-piece routines when the game demanded ingenuity but interestingly, Uganda had four gilt-edged chances in the eight minutes added to the 90 to add to their goal.
Wants changes
“I am proud of the girls because they executed the plan even though the goals did not come,” Botes said.
“What we need are more tournaments like these for the U-15 and U-17 girls to gain the experience. Experience is the only way you can coach them to take chances,” she added.
In the wider view of things, Botes wants all the U-17 girls called to the national teams to play in the topflight Fufa Women Super League (WSL) and wants some of them like Nabukenya to graduate to the senior national team Crested Cranes, where she is also making more demands.
“We hope the clubs agree to let these U-17s play in the WSL because they need that to grow, there is no need to fear for them. Also all players in the Crested Cranes need to take the (Caf) D coaching licensing course so they can fully understand aspects of the game.
“It is hard to teach them everything I know about football in the one or two weeks we have in camp. I also hope that we can have a workshop with the club coaches to address serious issues like medical aspects of these players – many of them came into camp with injuries. Three Crested Cranes players have to undergo surgery but have been playing with ACL issues for two years,” she added.
2024 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
Africa qualifiers
Third Round
First Leg: Zambia 2-0 Uganda
Second Leg: Uganda 1-0 Zambia
Zambia win 2-1 on aggregate and progress
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