AFCON U-20: Uganda to play Tunisia in semifinal, Ghana face Gambia

TOTAL AFRICA U-20 CUP OF NATIONS

Uganda will come up against Tunisia in an east versus north African affair in the semifinals of the Total Africa U-20 Cup of Nations taking place in Mauritania.

Ghana will play Gambia in the other semi-final for a place in the final.

After edging out Burkina Faso 5-3 on penalties on Thursday, the Uganda Hippos had to eagerly wait for nearly 20 hours, before learning who they would face in the last-four of the continent's youth tournament.

It was either Morocco or Tunisia.

And after the two north African sides battled in their quarterfinal duel Friday evening, Tunisia came out on top, thanks to a 4-1 victory in a post-match penalty shootout, to establish a tasty meeting with Uganda.

Morocco and Tunisia could not be separated in the 90 minutes of regular time on Friday

The night before, at the Stade Cheikha Boidiya in Mauritania's capital Nouakchott, Ugandan goalstopper Jack Komakech relished his hero status after diving the right way to palm out Yacouba Djiga’s spot kick to put Uganda well on course to advancing to the semifinals at the expense of the Young Stallions.

All the Ugandan penalty takers tucked home their kicks after 120 minutes of exhausting football under floodlights had failed to separate the two sides.

Monday's semi-final in Nouakchott against Tunisia will provide an opportunity for The Hippos to make even more Ugandan history of becoming the first under-20 side to make it to the final.

They had already entered the local history books by making it to the knockout stage.

The senior side, The Uganda Cranes, reached the final of the Nations Cup in 1978 in Ghana's capital Accra, coming up second-best against the hosts (2-0) at the Accra Sports Stadium on March 16 that year.

The Hippos now have a chance to equal the senior team's continental achievement.

On Thursday, Uganda battled Burkina Faso for a spot in the last-four

Interestingly, all the first three quarterfinal berths of this year's under-20 tournament were forced into extra time after regular time action produced no winner - and all of them eventually went into a penalty shootout.

First, a 1-1 deadlock after 120 minutes saw Ghana beat Cameroon 4-2 on penalties on Thursday to become the first team to progress to the semis.

Uganda joined them after a goalless affair in regular and extra time forced the duel into the decisive spotkicks.

It was a similar script on Friday, in the third quarter-final game, with the match pushed into an extra half-an-hour period, and then the spotkicks that saw Tunisia knock out Morocco 4-1.

Ghana will face Gambia, who comfortably beat Central African Republic 3-0 in the last quarter-final duel played later on Friday.