Uganda U17 coach on what cost them against Kenya in U17 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier
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Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 23.05.26. | 16:01
The two teams drew 1-1 on Friday in Uganda after second-half substitute Esther Adhiambo equalised in the 60th minute to cancel Shadia Nabiyre’s 12th-minute goal
Uganda under-17 women's national team head coach Sheryl Ulanda Botes has urged her players to improve on their communication at the back ahead of their return 2026 U17 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier match against Kenya on Saturday, 30 May.
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The two teams drew 1-1 on Friday in Uganda after second-half substitute Esther Adhiambo equalised in the 60th minute to cancel Shadia Nabiyre’s 12th-minute goal.
Botes believes Kenya’s equaliser was a result of poor communication by her defenders and wants that rectified before the return leg.
“The goal came as a result of miscommunication between the two centre-backs, and the goalkeeper made it worse by coming out. This is something we have been working on all week, and we still had a problem today,” she said.
She also pointed out that they were expecting a tough match against the Kenyan side, even as she praised her side for creating goal-scoring opportunities.
“Our opponents played very well in the midfield and pressed us hard on the left wing. Also, some of our players were a bit nervous, and we had to make some early substitutions to cure that.
“I am glad that we came back strongly in the last 15 minutes of the match and created a number of scoring opportunities,” she added.
Botes believes the positives picked from the first leg can motivate her side to beat Kenya and qualify for the next stage of the tournament, where the winner will play either South Africa or Tanzania.
“The most important thing we have picked from the match is the fact that we are creating goal-scoring opportunities, and so it is possible to score away and beat Kenya.
We have also learnt our weaknesses in the match and will improve on the same before we travel to Nairobi.
We had only four days of training while our opponents have been training for more than two weeks, and so we are happy with the result we picked.”