Crested Cranes entered day four of residential training on Saturday ahead of the 2022 AWCON qualifier against Ethiopia on Wednesday at St Mary’s Stadium Kitende.
The second leg will be played on October 26 in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia and the winner on aggregate , will qualify to meet the winner between Kenya and South Sudan in the next and final round.
The 30 players that are undergoing the guidance of head coach George Lutalo, are majorly a collection of the team that took part in the 2021 COSAFA championship and the U-20 team that eliminated Kenya in the FIFA Women World Cup 2022 Qualifiers.
As days go by and the awaited day of the first leg in Uganda closes in, coach George Lutalo is impressed by the improvement in the players’ response to the needed levels against the regional opponents and also the fact that there have been no injuries recorded so far in the four consecutive days of hard work.
The players themselves feel greatly improved and ready for the game as some of them reacted after the Saturday training session.
Laki Otandeka-Striker (New Jersey Copa FC, USA)
“As a team I feel Uganda has a chance of beating Ethiopia. I know in the past meetings we have won and we have lost, but this team is more energized, it has more talent than the previous teams not to say that they were bad but I feel like this set of girls that I have been training with are special and I think we really have a great chance of winning as long as we put the ball in the back of the net. Uganda’s advantage will be our pace I think we are a faster team after watching some videos of the past games. We have a greater advantage of having quicker players as well as having a quick central midfield presence and our goal keeper is far stronger than Ethiopia’s so just hoping that the strikers and the attacking midfielders can finish the job the moment we get the opportunity upfront.”
Sandra Nabweteme-Striker (Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar, Iceland)
“Me I think like we have practiced a lot to get the result that we need on Wednesday, we are going to work hard to see that we get what we need because we need a win to go to Ethiopia with, such that even there, we work hard to also get the result to qualify to the next round. We are an organized team if we go in like focusing on what we nee d and what the coaches tell us to do and our focus will get us the results over Ethiopia.”
Hasifa Nassuna (UCU Lady Cardinals FC)
“The team is in good condition because our participation is COSAFA helped usa s a team to gain fitness and team work and its going to help us win Ethiopia. Right now, our coaches are concentrating so much on correcting our mistakes that we made in South Africa which has boosted our concentration and focus and is going to help us a lot win the game.”
Ruth Aturo-Goal keeper and captain (UCU Lady Cardinals FC)
“We had a very good challenge in SA but we have picked something important from that and we have to thank the federation for allowing us the opportunity that has helped us come back with improved fitness and preparing for the qualifier against Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a good team yes, but my team is better given that the last game we played against them in CECAFA we beat them 1-0. However much they are preparing for us, we are ready for them because we have had a good guidance from our coaches during trainings and the players are really motivated. I believe we shall produce we shall overcome them and go through to the next round.”
