After the Uganda U20 national team, the Hippos demolished their South Sudan counter parts 5-1 on Saturday, the team’s head coach Matia Lule has stressed that they will not take the second game lightly.
This comes amidst fears that the boys would think it will be easy, which may result in shock.
“First of all I thank God that helped us win the game against South Sudan.
“The number of goals aside, we achieved our other goal and that was to put out a good show for the fans.
“We were lucky that the result played in our favour although we are a bit disappointed that we conceded a goal.
“We had it difficult in the first half but when they (South Sudan) ran out of steam in the second, we punished them dearly.
About keeping the boys motivated heading into the return leg in South Sudan, the former Express FC head coach had this to say:
“Lucky enough, my job is to coach football and I will put my head down and think about what is going on so as we complete the task.
“I am the right person to handle the situation and I have the perfect plane so as to help the boys stay focused and not get complacent.
“I know that they can also hurt us in South Sudan so we will take the game seriously.
On the issue of Mustapha Kizza who got sent off in the 5-1 win, Lule was quick to assert that he has a lot of replacements at his disposal.
“For Kizza’s case, we have a lot of Kizzas in Uganda and I am sure we will get the solution to his problem.
“We are blessed with the fact that we have a huge pool of players to choose from and I am confident we will get the right replacement.
“I don’t know what really happened for him to get sent off because I was looking away at another action and turning back, I saw the ref flash the card.
The Hippos will be back in action on the weekend of 20th-22nd of April when they travel to South Sudan for the second leg.
If they get the job done, they will take on West African giants Cameroon in the next round of qualification.
