Uganda Cranes secured their second victory in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers with a 1-0 win over South Sudan at the Mandela National Stadium on Friday.
Defender Bevis Mugabi’s early second-half goal was enough to earn the Cranes all three points in front of a packed crowd.
The win helped the cranes to get the first advantage of this double header fixture before heading to Juba for the return leg on October 15.
Uganda Crane’s player Rogers Mato had earlier made it clear that they are eyeing not just a win at home but also another maximum result away. The win moves Uganda to seven points, same points with South Africa.
The first half of the match saw little action, as both teams struggled to create significant goal-scoring opportunities. Uganda’s Rogers Mato had a few attempts, but his efforts went off-target, leaving the teams deadlocked at 0-0 by halftime.
Uganda made key tactical adjustments at the start of the second half, with Allan Okello and Bobosi Byaruhanga coming on to replace Travis Mutyaba and SC Villa’s Ronald Sekiganda.
The changes reshaped Uganda’s attack, with Jude Ssemugabi moving to center forward and Denis Omedi shifting to the right wing, while Okello took up the role of playmaker.
These changes paid off almost immediately. In the first minute of the second half, Mugabi capitalized on a rebound from Ssemugabi’s header, which had been saved by the South Sudanese goalkeeper, to nod the ball into the net, giving Uganda the lead.
Ssemugabi nearly doubled Uganda’s advantage in the 58th minute, but his shot was blocked by the South Sudan goalkeeper. In stoppage time, Omedi also had a chance to extend the lead, but his shot from the right wing was saved as well.
In his post-match remarks, South Sudan’s coach praised his team’s fighting spirit, despite the defeat.
On the other hand, Uganda’s coach Put expressed dissatisfaction with the first-half performance, citing the team’s late arrival at the stadium as a potential cause. However, he was pleased with their improvement in the second half.
“I was disappointed in the 45 minutes with the way we played, I can’t tell, I don’t know whether it’s because we came late to the pitch,” he said.
“The second half there was much drive, commitment and we played better. Now we have to put our focus on the return leg,” the return leg will be a tough one and I have already told the players, because even the field might be smaller than this,” he added.
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