Uganda under-20 ready for Rwanda

Africa U-20 Cup of Nations  

Saturday   

First round,  

First leg  

Rwanda v Uganda   

Return leg  

April 23  

Uganda v Rwanda.  

Uganda Hippos will look to Edrisa Lubega,Emmanuel 'Song'Oringa and Julius Poloto for inspiration as they prepare to take on Rwanda tomorrow away in the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The three have been some of the best performers on the team during trial matches in the run up to the match.Lubega has prior experience with the Cranes side and is the  top scorer in the FUFA Big League with 18 goals while Poloto and Oringa have just graduated from the under-17 national team.

Halid Lwaliwa will captain the team of 20 players who traveled to Rwanda and will be assisted by Oringa.

Before travelling to Rwanda the team had three build-up games where they lost 4-2 to KCCA FC before beating Express and URA 2-1 and 3-1 respectively.

This will be the second time Uganda is being drawn to play Rwanda in an underage championship on the African continent.

The two countries clashed in the Africa U-23 championship qualifiers which Uganda won 4-1on aggregate over two legs before falling to Egypt in the final round of qualification.  

Zambia will host the AFCON U-20finals in 2017. Three rounds will be played before any team makes it to the finals. The winner between Uganda and Rwanda over two legs will play Egypt in the second round.  

The Africa U-20 Cup of Nations (previously known as the African Youth Championship or the African U-20 Championship) is the main international youth football competition for CAF nations.  

Players born on 1 January 1997 or later are eligible to participate in the February 26 - March 12 competitions next year.  

The qualifiers well be played between April 1 and July 24. At the end of the qualification phase,seven teams will join hosts Zambia.  

The first four teams after the finals in Zambia will qualify for 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup to be held in South Korea.