CHAN 2020 Qualifiers
Somalia vs Uganda
Stade El Hadj Hassan Gouled, Djibouti
Saturday, 27-07-2019 @6pm
The Uganda Cranes will be hoping for an early advantage when they take on Somalia in the first leg of the CHAN 2020 preliminary round qualifiers on Saturday.
With Somalia’s political issues a constant, CAF decided the game is played in Djibouti at the Stade El Hadj Hassan Gouled.
The Cranes have been in training for over a week before departing on Thursday for the game.
They played three build-up games; defeating URA FC 1-0, losing 0-1 to Kitara and then drawing 0-0 with Proline FC.
Despite the lack of goals during the build-up games, Cranes head coach-Abdallah Mubiru is confident his side will get a positive result on Saturday.
“Our target is to get something in the away fixture, something that we will be able to build on in the return leg, said Mubiru ahead of the game.
“We did not score as many as we should have in the build-up games but i am not worried because we created the chances and only need to put 2 or 3 away and we are good to go.”
About Somalia, the Police FC tactician says his side needs to respect the opposition.
“Currently, we are better than them football wise but that is not enough when the game starts, continued Mubiru.
“We will respect them by imposing our selves and try to make our superiority count”
Uganda has in recent times been consistent during qualification for CHAN.
After losing to Tanzania in the second round of qualification and in the process, failing to reach the first edition of the finals in 2009, the Cranes have not failed to seal a spot in any of the last four finals (2011, 2014, 2016 and 2018).
To reach the last edition in Morocco, Uganda defeated South Sudan 5-1 on aggregate in the first round of qualifiers before hanging on to overcome Rwanda 3-2 in the second round.
For Somalia, they have never reached the CHAN finals’ tournament as they either withdraw or fail to negotiate their way through the qualification process.
In 2009, they did nit take part in qualification before they were hammered 6-0 by Tanzania in the first round of the 2011 qualifiers.
Once again, they did not enter qualification for both the 2014 and 2016 editions.
For the last edition in 2018, Somalia fell to South Sudan at the preliminary round of qualification, losing 4-1 on aggregate.
It will be a daunting task to try and get past Uganda but with the Cranes not scoring as much as they should, a first leg result is surely not beyond Somalia’s reach.
Match Facts
Uganda and Somalia rarely meet despite featuring in the same region. Since 2009, the two nations have met just twice.
In those two meetings, one of which was in a friendly and another at CECAFA Cup, Uganda has two victories while Somalia have not tasted victory.
Uganda has scored 8 goals in the two games whilst conceding none.
Somalia heads into the game having lost all of their last four CHAN qualifiers. In those games, they have conceded 10 goals whilst scoring just one.
For Uganda, they have not won any of their last 4 CHAN games including both the finals and qualification (D1 L3).
However, in qualification, the Cranes have lost just one of their past four (W2 D1).
The Cranes team to face Somalia on Saturday
James Alitho (URA FC), Charles Lukwago (KCCA FC), Tom Masiko (Vipers SC), Mustafa Mujuzi (Proline FC), Mbowa Paul Patrick (URA FC), Paul Willa (Vipers SC), Kizza Mustafa (KCCA FC), Ibrahim Juma Sadam (KCCA FC), Kayiwa Allan (Vipers SC), Lwanga Tadeo (Vipers SC), Mutyaba Muzamiru (KCCA FC), Kagimu Shafik Kuchi (URA FC), John Revita (Express FC), Awany Dennis Timothy (KCCA FC), Serunkuma Dan Muzeyi (Vipers SC), Kyambadde Allan (KCCA FC), Kaddu Patrcik Henry (KCCA FC) and Allan Okello (KCCA FC)
