Uganda national team head coach Sebastian Desabre said that he felt pretty proud of the team’s competitiveness shown in the tournament after Cranes progressed from the Africa Cup of Nations group stage despite a 2-0 loss to Egypt on Sunday.
Cranes registered 16 shots throughout the Group A final round action, compared with Egypt’s five. However, the East Africans failed to penetrate opponents defence but at least were able to keep the score low as their backline played superbly against a strong Pharaohs attack line led by Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah.
The odds were against Cranes to make it out of the group but a convincing win for DR Congo over Zimbabwe in the group’s other game ensured that they finished second and will face the runners-up of Group C (likely to be either Senegal or Kenya) at the same venue on Friday, July 5.
“The target by the federation was to qualify from the group stages. Now that this has been achieved, we want to stay longer and enjoy the rest of the tournament. I am happy with my players. Ugandan football has changed a lot in the last few years,” Desabre told his post-match press conference.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “I trust my players have learnt a lot so far and will keep picking points from this tournament. I thank all Ugandan for supporting us.” [/perfectpullquote]
Liverpool star Mohammed Salah placed Egypt ahead in the 36th minute before captain Ahmed Elmohamady added a second just before half-time.
Cranes had plenty of possession in both halves and often threatened to score without managing to put the ball in the net. With 20 minutes to the end of the match, their goalkeeper Dennis Onyango was stretched out of play.
“Dennis Onyango is doing well. He never got injured. He has been down with flu for the last two days but he is very okay,” Desabre added.
Egypt topped the final standings with nine points and Uganda came next with four to also qualify automatically for the knockout phase.
The Democratic Republic of Congo came third with three points after trouncing Zimbabwe 4-0 in another game at Cairo stadium.
