Africa-Press – Uganda. Coach George Lutalo’s side had planned to go and find goals against Ethiopia in the second leg of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations qualifiers in Addis Ababa.
Uganda had won the first leg at St. Mary’s Kitende – Stadium 2-0 and Lutalo had warned that they would not be enough.
He indeed set up his team to bite but it was undone by an inspired Ethiopia side that levelled the tie inside 31 minutes forcing the visitors to work towards not losing the tie rather than winning it outright. Uganda needed to ride a bit of luck as Ethiopia had an effort ruled out for offside in the 27th minute. They, however, made up for it with a second goal in the 31st.
For the second half, Lutalo reverted to closing shop with the hope of hitting Ethiopia on the break.
The defence played better as Uganda took care of possession but the game ended in favour of the Lucy with both teams needing a penalty shootout to be separated.
Luck struck again for Uganda as Loza Abera hit the crossbar for Ethiopia’s opening penalty in what turned out to be a very painful shootout to watch for both teams. Uganda took full advantage as Hasifah Nassuna, who had jumped on as a 58th minute substitute converted to make it 1-0. Aregash Tadesse also had Ethiopia’s next effort saved by Ugandan goalkeeper Ruth Aturo while Joan Nabirye steered her penalty wide to leave the score at 1-0.
Emeber Adisu Asfaw converted hers to make it 1-1. Fortunately for Uganda, Fauzia Najjemba made it 2-1 just before Hiwot Dengiso and former captain Birtukan Gebrekirstos also hit the upright in a bid to stretch Aturo.
In between the two Ethiopians, Sumaya Komuntale had an effort to seal off the shootout saved leaving most of the plaudits to rightly go to Aturo – not only for making sure Ethiopia miss four attempts but for keeping Uganda in the game throughout regulation time.
“I want to thank the players for the effort they put in for us to win this tie,” Lutalo said in the aftermath of the game played at Abebe Bikila Stadium.
Ethiopia had eliminated Uganda 4-2 at this same stage in the 2020 Olympic Qualifiers two years ago so a 2-2 aggregate score salvaged by a penalty shootout in the AWCON qualifiers will be regarded as a sweet revenge for the Crested Cranes.
Uganda will meet Kenya in the second and final qualification round between February 14 and 23, 2022 in yet another grudge match as the latter eliminated the former 1-0 in the first round of the AWCON qualifiers in 2018.
The winner of that tie joins 10 others and hosts Morocco in the finals in July 2023. The four semifinalists then will automatically qualify for the 2023 Fifa Women World Cup while the next two best performers will go for an inter-confederations qualifier to make it to World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.
AWCON QUALIFIERS
First Round: Uganda 2 (2) – 2 (1) Ethiopia
*Uganda progress 2-1 on penalties
after 2-2 aggregate score with Ethiopia
Second Round: Due February 2022
Uganda vs. Kenya
Burundi vs. Djibouti
Zambia vs. Namibia
Zimbabwe vs. Botswana
South Africa vs. Algeria
Tunisia vs. Equatorial Guinea
Togo vs. Gabon
Cameroon vs. Gambia
Senegal vs. Mali
Guinea Bissau vs. Burkina Faso
Nigeria vs. Ivory Coast
*Winners qualify to join hosts Morocco at finals due July 2022.
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