COSAFA U17 Women’s Championship
Uganda vs Botswana
Francios Xavier Stadium, Port Luis
Friday, 27-09-2019 @2pm
The Uganda Women’s 17 national football team’s head coach Ayub Khalifa is hoping his side continues its fine scoring form at the 2019 COSAFA U17 Women’s Championship.
The Junior Crested Cranes have already scored 32 goals in the competition, all coming in their three group games.
After a 1-1 draw with Zambia in their opener, they went on to defeat Mauritius 11-0 and then Comoros 22-0.
As a result, Uganda topped group A with 7 points, level with second-placed Zambia but with a better goal difference.
As a reward, they will next face Botswana in the semi-finals with a place in the final at stake.
On Thursday morning, the team held their final training session ahead of the encounter and Khalifa said that they were looking to sharpen their attack because they may need more goals coming up against a side that clearly can score goals.
“We are trying to sharpen on the attacking side and finishing because we want to score more goals, noted Khalifa on Thursday.
“We are playing a team that has also been scoring as evident from their 14-0 win in their last game so we will need to be sharp upfront.
“They (Botswana) also scored 5 in another game which shows they are a team that can also find the back of the net.”
The young Crested Cranes have been so good going forward but are yet to have proper tests made on their defence.
The only game in which they were asked questions defensively was in the draw against Zambia.
Against Botswana, they will need to be on the alert defensively, something Khalifa also appreciates.
“As we are working on the attacking side, we will also put emphasis on defending so as we do not make many mistakes as they are capable of punishing us.
“Otherwise, the team is in good shape and we are ready to emerge victorious in our game on Friday.”
The other semi-final of the COSAFA U17 Women’s championship will see favourites South Africa take on Zambia at the same venue.
The other semi-final
-South Africa vs Zambia @11pm
