Mbekeka calls for harmony in players' documentation process

WOMEN FOOTBALL    WORLD CUP QUALIFIER

U-20 FIFA Women World Cup Qualifiers

Preliminary round

Return leg

Saturday

Uganda v Tanzania (first leg 1-2)

National U-20 women team coach Oliver Mbekeka has advised fellow coaches as well as club CEOs to ensure players have the right documents so that they are not denied a chance to feature for the respective national sides.

The female tactician was speaking after conducting a morning training session on Friday in preparation for the U-20 FIFA Women World cup qualifiers return leg tomorrow against Tanzania at Lugogo.

"Fellow coaches get the players' documents right. It is something that is bothering me a lot. For example, there are players who could be on the team but their national Identity cards indicate they are 19 years but the license from FUFA indicates that they are 20 years," she stated.

"When you talk to them, they say it's our coaches that register us with the federation," a frustrated Mbekeka said.

Mbekeka (left) and Ayub Khalifa are in charge of the girls' sides.

According to Mbekeka, such issues are the reason there is a lack of strikers especially on the U-20 team because some players have conflicting documents.

"We struggle to get goals because we have left the responsibility to Juliet Nalukenge. Yet we had some good strikers like Sharon Naddunga,  Sheebah Zalwango whose documents don't match," she added.

Tanzania leads the tie with a 2-1 aggregate score, which makes it a must-win for Uganda.

Skipper Shadia Nankya is optimistic they have done enough preparation to overturn the result and qualify to the next round.

"We are under no pressure, our coach has instructed us well. The errors that led to the goals in the first meeting have been rectified, all we are waiting for is tomorrow's game," Nankya full of confidence told this newspaper yesterday.

The Tanzanian team was expected to have arrived in the country on Thursday evening.

The winner between the two sides will face Senegal or Sierra Leone in the next round.

The finals will be held in the Central American nations of Panama and Costa Rica in December.