The Uganda U20 Women’s National Team the Queens Cranes, have started their 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers journey with a convincing away win over Mozambique.
In a game played on Saturday evening at Campo da ABB- Matola stadium in Mozambique, the visitors Uganda, defeated Mozambique 6-0 to take first leg advantage.
Ugana’s first chance of the game came in the 12th minutes when Phionah Nabulime’s powerful shot from outside the box was saved by the goalkeeper.
Two minutes later, Catherine Nagadya was released by Phionah Nabulime but Nagadya wasn’t clinical enough to beat the goalkeeper.
In the 19th minutes, forward Margaret Kunihira was fouled inside the box and Uganda was awarded a penalty. Youngster Agnes Nabukenya was trusted to take it and she made no mistake to put the ball at the far bottom left corner to put Uganda in the lead.
In the 33 minutes, Agnes Nabukenya doubled the lead. Mozambique’s defense failed to clear the ball out of danger and Nabukenya picked the ball and scored.
Magician Hadijah Nandago scored the third goal to put Uganda in a comfortable lead. Nandago dribbled and beat her marker, entered the box and smashed the ball at the back of the net.
Margaret Kunihira netted the fourth goal with three minutes to the end of the first stanza of the game. She curled the ball to the right far post to extend the lead for the visitors.
With just 4 minutes into the second half, it was raining goals as Hadijah Nandago scored the fifth goal and her second on the day.
Substitute Eva Nagayi netted the sixth goal for Uganda in the 62nd minutes which was the last goal of the game as Uganda beat Mozambique 0-6 in the first leg.
The return leg will be played on Friday 13th October at FUFA Technical Centre, Njeru in Uganda.
The winner between Uganda and Mozambique on aggregate will face either Senegal or Benin in the third round in November this year.
This week, FIFA added two slots to CAF and now four qualified teams from Africa will play at the finals of the 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, to be hosted by Colombia from 5th to 22nd September 2024.
