Uganda will fight for an unlikely qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations when they face ‘hosts’ Niger in their final Group F match, set for Stade de Marrakech in Morocco on the evening of Thursday, 7 September 2023.
Kick-off is at 9pm CAT.
Uganda head into the final round of qualifiers in third place in the group, three points short of second-place Tanzania and hoping for a confluence of results to secure a third Afcon appearance in the space of four tournaments and an eighth overall.
The Cranes need to defeat Niger and hope that already-qualified Algeria defeat their East African rivals in a concurrent game in North Africa – this would see Uganda and Tanzania level on seven points apiece and equal in terms of head-to-heads (they each won 1-0 away against the other back in March), leaving goal difference as the deciding tie-breaker. The Cranes currently stand at -3 in that regard, while the Taifa Stars are -1.
Uganda’s problem has been scoring goals and coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic is hoping that a new generation of attacking players take up the baton.
“As you know, Bayo Fahad, Okwi Emmanuel, Miya Faruku are sources of goals in recent years,” said the Serbian. “We need to find the sources in Bayo, Miya, [Richard] Basangwa and other players that are supposed to be sources of our goals.”
As for Niger, they have been eliminated in terms of qualifying for the Afcon, but they could at least avoid the wooden spoon in the group with a win over Uganda. The Menas will ‘host’ the game in Morocco due to a lack of Caf-approved venues in their home country.
In head-to-head terms, Uganda and Niger have met in seven previous matches dating back as far as 2006. The Menas have claimed three wins compared to two for the Cranes, while two games have been drawn.
The teams’ most recent clash was their matchday 2 meeting in Entebbe in June 2022 which ended 1-1 after goals from Milton Karisa and Amadou Sabo.