The Uganda U20 Women’s National Team, also known as the Queen Cranes, made a flying start to their 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers campaign with a convincing 6-0 away win over Mozambique.
The game was played on Saturday evening at Campo da ABB-Matola stadium in Mozambique, and the visitors were in control from the start.
Uganda’s first chance came in the 12th minute when Phionah Nabulime‘s powerful shot from outside the box was saved by the goalkeeper.
Two minutes later, Catherine Nagadya was released by Nabulime but wasn’t clinical enough to beat the goalkeeper.
In the 19th minute, forward Margaret Kunihira was fouled inside the box and Uganda was awarded a penalty.
Youngster Agnes Nabukenya stepped up to take the kick and made no mistake, putting the ball at the far bottom left corner to put Uganda in the lead.
Nabukenya doubled the lead in the 33rd minute when Mozambique’s defense failed to clear the ball out of danger. Nabukenya picked up the ball and scored from close range.
Magician Hadijah Nandago and Kunihira scored the third and fourth to put Uganda in a comfortable lead just before half-time.
Uganda continued to dominate in the second half, and Nandago scored her second goal of the game before substitute Eva Nagayi added the sixth and final goal for Uganda in the 62nd minute.
The return leg will be played on Friday, October 13th at FUFA Technical Centre, Njeru in Uganda.
The winner between Uganda and Mozambique on aggregate will face either Senegal or Benin in the third round in November this year.
During the week, FIFA added two slots to CAF and now four qualified teams from Africa will play at the finals of the 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, to be hosted by Colombia in 2024.
Courtesy Photos
