The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Defending champions Uganda Cubs are out of the on-going CECAFA U-17 Championship in Burundi.
The Cubs suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Somalia at the Gitega Stadium in one of the semi final matches played on Wednesday.
Uganda Cubs who won the trophy when the Championship was last held in 2009 failed to match the Somalia team that reportedly played a highly passing game.
Ahmed Farhaman scored the lone goal for Somalia early in the first half, while Uganda Cubs had Sula Mpuga miss a penalty in the second half.
Before the semi final Uganda Cubs drew 1-1 with Tanzania in the opening group B game before defeating Sudan 3-0. “It is disappointing that we created several scoring chances, but failed to win the game,” Uganda’s coach Peter Onen said after the game.
Tanzania joined Somalia in the final after they humbled Kenya 2-1 in the second semi final game also played the same day. Somalia started the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Zanzibar, but were awarded the points and three goals after Zanzibar was thrown out of the tournament when they were discovered to have 12 over age players in the tournament.
The Somalia team handled by Salad Farah Hassan went on to defeat Kenya 1-0 in another group game and also drew goalless against the hosts Burundi.
The tournament that attracted Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and hosts Burundi is fully sponsored by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA).
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