The Uganda National Women’s U-18 football team Head Coach Ayub Kalifa Kiyingi is confident that his team is capable of competing despite the little time there is for proper preparations.
The team is preparing for the upcoming CECAFA U18 Women Championship that will happen in Tanzania between 25th July-8th August, and they just started training today (Tuesday 17th July).
“We have had a good training session,” the coach stated after taking the team through drills at Kawempe Muslim SS play ground.
“The girls came back, most of them had relaxed, because they were not sure whether the tournament would be there, Khalifa further noted.
He however added, “But with the four days we have, we’re going to work on them, so that by the time we leave this place, we have a good team that can compete.”
The tournament was initially scheduled to kick off on the 24th of June in Nairobi, Kenya, but was later on again postponed to 29th June by CECAFA, and still out didn’t happen.
Following such uncertainty, the summoned over 30 players, majority of whom were part of the U17 team that played at the U17 World Cup qualifiers last year had to be released back to their respective clubs and schools.
Eventually, in a meeting took place last week alongside the CAF Ordinary Assembly, a decision was made to relocate the championship from Kenya to Tanzania during a meeting of CECAFA members in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
