Hippos fall to Rwanda despite bag of skills

By Swalley Kenyi

International friendly

Uganda 0 Rwanda 2

TWO separate defensive errors gifted Rwanda Junior Wasps with goals that saw Uganda Hippos go down 2-0 in an international friendly at Nakivubo stadium on Wednesday.

First, Emmanuel Sebanani surprised flat-footed Hippos defenders Yusuf Mukisa and Joseph Bukenya to shoot in from the edge of the box in the 12 minute and it was until the second half when they picked the other.

Only three minutes from resumption, former SC Villa striker Kipson Atuhaire capitalised on Mukisa's poor positioning to make it 2-0 and Uganda was deflated.

It was clear that what mattered in the friendly game was the skills displayed as both sides jointly created less than nine scoring opportunities in the entire ninety minutes of play but the abundant display of skill the fans enjoyed.

Uganda’s late inclusion George Abege (Said Kyeyune) who scored in the first leg in Rwanda was substituted after missing two scoring opportunities just like team captain Gift Ali and midfielder Khalid Aucho.

Uganda Hippos coach Paul Nkata insists the better team lost. Nkata however blamed his team’s decisive defeat  on short time preparation and his attempt to try out new players.

He agreed that his team put up a shadow of their performance that left soccer fans in Kigali longing to watch the return legs.

“Maybe it is the bad surface of the pitch here (Nakivubo) but they (Rwanda) also played on the same pitch, maybe we had few days to pick from a big pool of players and yet we had few days together,” a dejected Nkata said after the defeat.

“But ask those Rwandans who watched us in Kigali.” Nkata soothed himself

Rwanda Junior Wasps coach Frenchman Richard Tardy contends that the Ugandan team is was more technical and a promising future side.

Uganda is preparing to play Mozambique in an Africa Youth Championship qualifier here on April 22 while Rwanda is gearing up for Namibia.