Hockey Cranes defender Brian Okodi was overjoyed after Uganda booked their spot in the semifinals of the Paris 2024 Africa Olympics Qualifiers on Wednesday, despite losing their final Pool A game 11-0 to hosts South Africa.
The Hockey Cranes progressed to the semis thanks to a forfeited win against Nigeria on the opening day of the tournament.
After Nigeria failed to show up for their game against Innocent Raskara’s team, the Hockey Cranes were awarded a 5-0 win, which proved to be crucial in their qualification.
Uganda also lost 2-1 to Zimbabwe in the group stage, but they advanced to the semifinals on virtue of having a better goal difference than Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
Okodi, who wears the number 5 shirt for the Hockey Cranes, could not hide his delight after the game, saying the feat meant a lot to the team.
What Brian Okodi said
“Watching Zimbabwe vs Nigeria wasn’t easy for us, because at some point it was 3-3, yet we were praying for Nigeria to win,” Okodi said in his post-match interview.
“When Nigeria scored the winning goal, that’s when we realized we can actually make it to the semifinals.”
“When we came for this game, we knew South Africa is a very hard team to beat, we knew it was not going to be an easy game, but we told ourselves we can do it.”
“The boys fought very hard, the managers did their best to instruct us. I’m proud the boys were able to come through.
“This qualification means a lot to us. We have spent the past few days thinking about the semifinals, we told ourselves we can do it.”
Uganda will now face another African giant in the semifinals, as they will play Egypt.
Egypt won Pool A with maximum points, beating Zambia 4-1 in their final Pool game.
The Egyptians will go into the game on Friday as overwhelming favourites, but Uganda will hope for a miracle as they seek to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Courtesy Photos
