Prime
Khalifa’s woes against West Africans continue
Queen Cranes captain Hadijah Nandago evades a Senegalese opponent. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
In 2021, Khalifa had a chance with the U-17 to start his career against the continent’s known continental giants with strength. But their World Cup qualifier with Cameroon was wiped out by Covid-19.
Uganda fell 2-1 on aggregate to Senegal on Saturday as yet another Fifa U-20 Women’s World Cup Qualification campaign ended in agony – at Fufa Technical Centre, Njeru.
Senegal came with a 1-0 win from Thies and held Uganda to a 1-all draw here in this third round encounter of the qualifiers. The Queen Cranes started brilliantly when a direct move ended with Hadijah Nandago making it 1-0 in the fourth minute.
But Uganda’s U-20 squad this season has been one that lets in goals and struggles to score them. They were again let down by an individual mistake when Desire Katisi Natooro was caught in possession to let Aissatou Chris Ba to score past the helpless Sharon Kaidu in goal.
Uganda’s coach Ayub Khalifa had emphasized the need to balance quality in both attack and defence but he will also need to do some soul searching.
It is the second time his team has lost out to a West African opponent at the penultimate stage of qualification. Last year, the U-20s fell to Ghana.
In 2021, Khalifa had a chance with the U-17 to start his career against the continent’s known continental giants with strength. But their World Cup qualifier with Cameroon was wiped out by Covid-19.
With the senior team Crested Cranes, a 2-1 aggregate loss to Algeria in the Women Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers forced Fufa to drop Khalifa ahead of the Olympic Qualifiers with Cameroon.
