Friday 24th March
Uganda 0-1 Tanzania
Uganda Cranes were defeated by Tanzania 1-0 in their third group game of the AFCON qualifiers played at Suez Canal Authority stadium in Ismail, Egypt.
Simon Msuva scored in the second period of the game tapping in from close range to hand the Taifa Stars a deserved victory.
Hosting their home games away from home, Uganda looked more of an inferior side playing a regular away game as coach Multin ‘Micho’ Sredjovic got his tactics wrong.
The East African neighbors Tanzania dominated play right from the start of the game as they looked more of a threat with the ball in the final third of the pitch.
The Taifa stars looked confident with the ball on their feet and they had the first chance of goal as goalkeeper Salim Jamal miss calculated a powerful effort from Dickson Job as it rattled the woodwork and cleared away by the defenders.
The Uganda Cranes looked so reactant in the game as they let the Tanzanians play the game with no eagerness of possessing the game.
Head Coach Micho looked to have got his tactics wrong as he introduced a triple substitution at the interval of first half, Steven Sserwadda couldn’t cope up with the aggressiveness in the game as he got injured with a few minutes after coming on.
Richard Basangwa looked to have added pace Infront of goal having got the first shot on target for the Cranes with his first touch but he was barely seen with an impact in the game.
In the 68th minute, Simon Msuva paced up defender Halid Lwaliwa to meet a cross and score at the near post of goalkeeper Salim Jamal Magoola as he gave Tanzania a deserved lead.
There was nothing much for the Cranes to play for as they failed to be effective going forward with their only option of playing long balls which were defended better by the Taifa Stars defence.
Tanzania currently sit second in group F with just four points as Uganda trail from bottom on just a single point and the two teams will meet again in the return leg on Wednesday in Tanzania.
Group F standings
Algeria – 9pts
Tanzania – 4pts
Niger – 2pts
Uganda – 1pt
