CECAFA U17 challenge cup
14th-29th April 2018
Bujumbura, Burundi
After weeks of waiting and anticipation, the Uganda U17 national team, The Cubs have today afternoon departed for Burundi where they will take part in the CECAFA U17 Challenge Cup.
The underage tournament is slated to kick-off this weekend with Uganda taking on neighbors Tanzania in their group B opener on Sunday.
Initially, the regional tournament was supposed to have started at the beginning of April but was postponed due to financial reasons and it is now highly anticipated that the games will start as scheduled.
The Cubs did not lose faith even when it was pushed forward and they have been training intensively all along at the Njeru Technical center in Njeru.
“We were disappointed that the tournament was postponed but just had to keep on preparing ourselves, said Cubs head Peter Onen.
“Now that the time has finally come, we do not have any excuses and i can assure everyone that my boys are set to make the country proud.
A contingent 28 individuals including 20 players and 8 officials will be representing team Uganda at the very first tournament of its kind.
The team of 20 which has travelled was named by Onen and his technical staff and it includes three goalkeepers, four defenders, seven midfielders and six forwards.
Vipers Junior Team have the lion’s share representation with six players on the final team.
Apart from Tanzania, the Cubs are in group B with two other teams including Sudan and Zanzibar who they will face off with later in the group stages.
Uganda will kick start the tournament against Tanzania on the 15th of April and thereafter play Sudan on 18th before summing up the group with a date with Zanzibar on the 22nd.
The 20 players that have traveled:
Goalkeepers
Oluka George William – Buddo SS
Kiberu Ronald- Express Junior Tean
Ssemogerere Daniel- UPDF FC Junior team
Defenders
Jaggwe Musa – Vipers Junior Team
Ibrahim Juma-KCCA soccer Academy
Kizito Gavin- SC Villa Jogoo Junior Team
Kafumbe Joseph – Buddo SS
Midfielders
Ivan Asaba- Vipers Junior Team
Kirya Gerald- Vipers Junior Team
Kakaire Thomas- Vipers Junior Team
Kawooya Andrew- Proline Soccer Academy
Ssekajja Davis- Bright Stars Junior Team
Ekellot Ibrahim-Bright Stars Junior Team
Bakabulindi Moses- Vipers Junior Team
FOWARDS
Iddi Abdul Wahid – Onduparaka Junior Team
Mpanga Sula- Vipers Junior Team
Mugisha Rogers-Masavu Junior Team
Muber Jimmy – Paidha Primary School
Mukisa Owen- BUL FC Junior Team
Anthony Kent-Onduparaka Junior Team
