Ntare save Uganda hockey blushes

Ntare School midfielder said “it would be embarrassing” if Uganda had not attained at least one medal position in the hockey competition at the Federation of East Africa Secondary School Association (Feasssa) Games held at Mbale School of Hygiene.

In the girls’ round-robin tournament, the visiting Kenyan sides of St. Joseph’s College Kitale, Nyamira and Tigoi Girls SS completed the podium with 16, 13 and 12 points in that order.

Kakungulu were left to settle for fourth, as was the case last year, with 10 points from six games.

The Ugandan sides could only win games against themselves with Bweranyangi beating Mt. St. Mary’s College Namagunga and Sacred Heart Mushanga for their six points. Coach Alfred Agaba’s Namagunga also beat Mushanga 3-2 for their three points.

Boys’ math

For the boys, Ntare drew with visiting sides Tanzania’s Arusha Meru and Musingu High School from Kenya then beat Mbarara High to make it out of Pool A with five points. Musingu won the other two matches to come out top with seven points.

Pool B was more interesting. After three games, Kenya’s St. Anthony and Uganda’s Kakungulu sat on six points but the latter hoped fellow Ugandan side Kyaddondo SS could avoid defeat to St. Charles Lwanga Mombasa or at least lose by not more than two goals in the final match of that pool.

But Kyaddondo lost 4-0 to oust Kakungulu, who won the Feasssa title in 2023 and 2022, on goal difference.

Coah Mike Malungu and his assistant Willis Malesi’s Musingu controversially beat St. Anthony, which is coached by their former old boy Kevin Keegan 2-1 in the first semis. The former were granted a penalty stroke for a stick infringement from a St. Anthony defender that did not look too clear for Keegan.

The latter demonstrated and needed about 10 minutes of convincing to allow his players continue with the game in which they had taken an early lead. They conceded an equalizer from the stroke and later a penalty corner to lose the game.

Ntare lost a 2-0 advantage in the third quarter then conspired to get beaten 2-0 in the shootouts in the other semifinal to set up an all Kenyan final.

Deserved medal

In the third place playoff, Job Ayebare finished from point blank range to give Ntare a deserved 1-0 win over St. Anthony and their first ever regional medal. Some Kenyan fans criticized Keegan in the aftermath saying “he is the best coach we have but the worst manager, and you could see that his players failed to recover from yesterday’s events (loss to Musingu).”

Musingu, who finished second last year, went one notch higher after a dominant 2-0 win over St. Charles to win gold.

FEASSSA Games

Boys’ Knockouts

Finals: Musingu 2-0 St. Charles Mombasa (both from Kenya)

3^rd Place: Ntare (Uganda) 1-0 St. Anthony (Kenya)

Semis:

Musingu 2-1 St. Anthony (both from Kenya)

Ntare 2(0)-2(2) St. Charles

Girls Table

St. Joseph        6          5          1          0          23        2          16

Nyamira          6          4          1          1          20        2          13

Tigoi               6          3          3          0          26        3          12

Kakungulu      6          3          1          2          8          3          10

Bweranyangi   6          2          0          4          6          21        6

Namagunga     6          1          0          5          4          25        3

Mushanga       6          0          0          6          2          33        0