Uganda Cranes coach Paul Put has praised the character of his players as they defeated ten-man Somalia 1-0 in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers at Stade du Municipal in Berkane, Morocco on Tuesday.
This was Cranes’ first victory in the Qualifiers having earlier lost to Guinea 2-1.
Rogers Mato‘s first-half strike saw Uganda pick up vital points in the game that saw Somalia’s defender Abdirizak Mohamed sent off after a tackle on Mato.
“The performance of the players was good. We commanded the game well,” Put said.
“The character and mentality exhibited by the players was also good. We were only short on scoring chances. We had like four clear chances we should have converted. But we shall improve with time.”
Mato said that scoring is a big motivation for him and the rest of the players
“This is a big motivation for me and the rest of the players. We are going to try and build from this. Our target is to try and perform to our best,” Mato said.
Uganda is in Group G that is topped by Algeria with six points. Botswana, Guinea, Uganda and Mozambique are second, third, fourth and fifth with three points each. Somalia is bottom with no point.
Nine groups of six teams will play in a home-and-away round-robin format and the group winners will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be hosted jointly by Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America.
However, the four best-ranked group runners-up will participate in a play-off to determine which team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Courtesy Photos
