Africa-Press – Uganda. In January, Uganda earned an automatic ticket to their second ever Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) after continental football governing body Caf announced Kenya’s decision to withdraw from the final qualification round.
The two neighbouring nations were due to tussle it out for a berth at the July finals in Morocco and both had summoned players to camp for the February bouts when the announcement was made.
Fast forward, to build momentum for Wafcon, Uganda took part in and won the Cecafa Women Championship at Fufa Technical Centre, Njeru in June.
Uganda beat Burundi 3-1 in the final to complete the tournament with five wins, 15 goals scored, two conceded and three clean sheets.
For long periods of their games at the Wafcon, Uganda matched all their three Group A opponents but the inexperience of the players told as they returned home with two losses, one draw – having scored three goals and conceded seven.
Eventually, coach George Lutalo and his technical bench, who suffered with selection decisions, were sacked by the federation.
Phionah Nabbumba who was the best midfielder leading She Corporate to the 2022 Fufa Women Super League (FWSL) between February and May was mostly played in defence.
Lutalo was denied the chance to have Hasifah Nassuna in the most important games but not after he had withdrawn her at halftime against Senegal in their first match while his late over indulgence with Ritah Kivumbi and Viola Nambi showed a coach that had within three weeks ripped apart a plan that worked during Cecafa. He also rarely used his bench.
In the end, after 22 years, Uganda have not even matched the performance of the team that went to South Africa in 2000. That team at least had four points in three matches, scored four goals and conceded six.
But there were some positives like the sumptuous freekick from left back Sumaya Komuntale that made the tournament’s highlight reels while referee Shamira Nabadda was also allowed to run games at the showpiece.
Youth teams
Meanwhile that was not it for Uganda’s national teams. The U-20 Women World Cup (WWC) campaign ended with a 7-1 aggregate loss to Ghana but it was seen as a success and a step in the right direction by Fufa.
“We definitely believed that we would get past Ghana,” Fufa’s head of media and communications Ahmed Hussein, said.
“But we also feel that the players and coaches did their best. As the stakes became higher, we were stopped by the gulf between us and opponents.”
This campaign felt different for various reasons. The 2009 and 2013 qualification campaigns came to a halt because Fufa could not afford to finance them.
In 2020, Fufa felt they could finance all the way but Uganda was quickly ousted by Tanzania 4-2 on aggregate then.
Fufa are serious about a good U-20 side and have let coach Ayub Khalifa groom players from the U-17 level right to the U-20 level.
After the Queen Cranes’ campaign, Khalifa was allowed to take charge of the U-17 (Teen Cranes) team for a second time.
Unfortunately, in the second leg, Ethiopia’s Eyerus Wondemu Tulu scored in the 79th minute to oust Uganda from the U-17 Women World Cup in Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia went into the game with the advantage having gotten two goals from the 2-2 away draw in the first leg in St. Mary’s Stadium, Kitende a fortnight before. What they needed was to match Uganda’s result for as long as the goals did not exceed two.
Uganda, initially, got the advantage when Shakirah Nyinagahirwa connected a rebound from a corner to make it 1-0 in the 33rd minute.
Ethiopia reverted to the idea they used in Kitende of looping long balls into Uganda’s box in the hope of catching goalkeeper Sharon Kaidu in no man’s land till the moment came.
Club football
Meanwhile for club football, Kampala Queens are in strong form in the FWSL having completed the first round of the 2022/23 season with maximum points and look a shoo-in to replace She Corporate as champions.
Propelled by the form of their striker Resty Nanziri, the protection of defensive midfielder Shakirah Mutiibwa plus new signings like; goalkeeper Daisy Nakaziro right back Asia Nakibuuka left back Sumaya Komuntale, midfielders Hasifah Nassuna and Teddy Najjuma among others, the Queens won nine matches between September and November to take their unbeaten run from last season to 26 matches.
They will need probably five wins in the second round of the season that starts in February to clinch their maiden trophy.
Winning the FWSL guarantees them a place in next year’s Cecafa region Caf Women’s Champions League qualifiers, where they will look to go one better than Uganda’s previous representatives; Lady Doves who stopped at the semis last year and She Corporate who reached this year’s finals, after winning the 2022 league by a point in May, but were pipped to the region’s Champions League by Tanzania’s Simba Queens.
She Corporate’s exploits at the regional qualifiers in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in September ended in a 1-0 defeat. But it was worth $20,000 (Shs76m) and it also landed their interim coach Charles Ayiekoh a job with Simba Queens ahead of the Champions League, where he led them to the semis.
Most valuable player (MVP) of the tournament Vivian Aquino Corazone did the damage converting from the spot after Corporate’s right-back Cissy Nakate brought down Aisha Djafari in the box in the 47th minute to send the Tanzania champions to Morocco on their second attempt. Simba went to Morocco in October and finished in the semis.
She Corporate, on the other hand, have struggled in the home league since their return from Dar – with just 11 points to show in the league.
Due to injuries to some of their forwards, they have ceded the chase to Uganda Martyrs High School – Lubaga and Uganda Christian University Lady Cardinals, who were recently crowned champions at the Eastern Africa University Games in Ndejje.
FUFA WOMEN SUPER LEAGUE TABLE 2022/23
TEAM P W D L F A PTS
Kampala Queens 9 9 0 0 18 2 27
Uganda Martyrs 9 6 1 2 21 5 19
UCU Lady Cardinals 9 5 1 3 16 13 16
Lady Doves 9 4 1 4 14 6 13
Olila HS 9 4 0 5 12 16 12
She Corporate 9 2 5 2 12 10 11
Kawempe Muslim 9 4 2 3 14 11 10
Makerere University 9 1 5 3 9 13 8
Rines SS 9 2 1 6 8 18 7
Asubo Gafford 9 1 1 7 8 28 4
Women’s Africa Cup of Nations
Group A table
TEAM P W D L F A PTS
Morocco 3 3 0 0 5 1 9
Senegal 3 2 0 1 3 1 6
Burkina Faso 3 0 1 2 2 4 1
Uganda 3 0 1 2 2 7 1
CECAFA WOMEN CHAMPIONSHIP
Crested Cranes performance
Group A
Uganda 2-0 Rwanda
Uganda 5-0 Djibouti
Uganda 4-1 Burundi
Semis: Uganda 1-0 Ethiopia
Final: Uganda 3-1 Burundi
U-20 WOMEN WORLD CUP
CAF QUALIFIERS – UGANDA’S JOURNEY
-FIRST ROUND: BYE
-SECOND ROUND
Kenya 2-7 Uganda
Uganda 3-1 Kenya
*Uganda progress 10-3 on aggregate
-THIRD ROUND
Uganda 1-0 South Africa
South Africa 0-0 Uganda
Uganda progress 1-0 on aggregate
-FOURTH ROUND
Uganda 1-2 Ghana
Ghana 5-0 Uganda
Ghana progress 7-1 on aggregate
U-17 WOMEN WORLD CUP
CAF QUALIFIERS – UGANDA’S 1ST ROUND
1st Leg: Uganda 2-2 Ethiopia
2nd Leg: Ethiopia 1-1 Uganda
Ethiopia advance on away goal rule after a 3-3 aggregate draw
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