AFCON U20: Byekwaso attributes Hippos loss to wastefulness

The Uganda U20 national team head coach Morley Byekwaso decries a couple of wasted chances and inexperience of his side as major attributors to Hippos’ 2-0 loss to Ghana in the concluded AFCON U20 final.

“Our boys didn’t really uses the early chances well. Our strategy was to play very fast in the opening minutes, to get a chance or two and utilize them effectively.

Playing against an experienced side like Ghana is always hard and you must use every chance effectively.

They came up again and scored to get the game back to them with great dominance.” Byekwaso before he added.

“We had gotten the chance to play at the World Cup but the pandemic hasn’t allowed it to happen. The boys are going to grow older and they will never have this chance again.

However, they must focus to find the best ways into their careers.” He added.

Ghana beat Uganda 2-0 on Saturday 6^th March 2021 at the Olympic Stadium in Nouakchott to clinch 5^th title in the tourney’s history.

Forward Daniel Barnieh Afriyie scored a brace for Ghana. His first goal came in 21^st minute before he sealed Ghana’s victory 50 minutes into the game.

Despite the loss, Uganda Hippos harvested big as Head coach Morley Byekwaso was named coach of the tournament, forward Derrick Kakooza tournament top scorer and, left back Aziz Kayondo and striker Derrick Kakooza appeared on the tourney’s best eleven.

The team departs Mauritania on Monday Morning (7:00am) and will land at Entebbe International Airport on Tuesday morning (12:55am) aboard Ethiopian Airlines

Road to the final

Ghana

The Ghanaians made it out of the group stages as one of the best two third placed teams after losing their last group match to Gambia to finish third in the group.

They had beaten Tanzania and drawn against Morocco, and those two results were just but enough to push them into the quarters.

In the last eight, they matched up against Cameroon, one of the pre-tournament favourites. They came from a goal down in extra time to force out a 1-1 draw and win the tie on penalties to progress to the semis.

In the last four, they played against Gambia, the same team that beat them 2-1 in the group stages. This time, they proved to have done their homework right and laid down a 1-0 revenge against the Young Scorpions to sail to the final.

Uganda

The Ugandan Hippos finished second in Group A after victories over hosts Mauritania and Mozambique, their only loss of the tournament so far being against Cameroon.

In the quarter finals, they faced a tough Burkina Faso side and weathered the West African storm to win on penalties and sail to the semis.

They were unstoppable in the last four, beating Tunisia emphatically 4-1 to announce themselves in the final with style.