Africa-Press – Uganda. The Uganda Rhinos will defend their Cecafa under-15 Boys Championship against Zanzibar after overcoming a resilient Tanzania in the semifinal played Mondday at the Fufa Technical Centre in Njeru.
The Rhinos held on to extinguish a late assault to beat Tanzania 2-1 to qualify for the final.
The Ugandans came into the game with a clean record of winning eight games since 2019 without conceding but the battle-hardened Tanzanians were determined to dent that record.
Captain Abubakar Walusimbi set the ball rolling with a long-range thunderbolt in the 17th minute to hand the defending champions the lead.
Samuel Mubiru doubled the lead at the stroke of halftime with a thumping header to connect in Owen Mukisa’s corner kick. From there on Uganda looked a little too confident wasting tonnes of chances before the Tanzanian coach Maalim Swahele made a couple of changes in the midfield with ten minutes to go. Jaffari Mwanyimba and Laurence Agostino added pace and creativity in the midfield causing the hosts to back-peddle.
Agostino forced Pius Oyirwoth to a foul with his first touch on the ball. Right-back Mohammed Omar curled the resultant kick for Feisal Juma to head in. the Tanzanians stepped up to push for an equalizer but the Rhinos employed time-wasting tactics to run down the clock with medical breaks.
“I think the boys were too confident and became a little complacent but we have to rectify that before the final,” Hamuza Lutalo, the Uganda Rhinos coach admitted after the win.
Tanzania’s Swahele blamed himself for taking too long to make his substitutions but insisted the team is on a learning curve and needs to con
“We made some substitutions which swung the game to our favour but it was a little too late. If we had done them earlier, we would have done better but our main target for this team is to develop the players,” Swahele said.
Tournament surprise package Zanzibar booked a slot to their first ever final in the regional competitions after beating South Sudan 4-2 in post-match penalty kicks that followed a 1-all draw.
The final will be played on Thursday afternoon in Njeru.
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