FINALLY Uganda’s Cranes have broken their 38-year Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) drought by qualifying for the 2017 edition in Gabon from 14 January to 5 February next year.
The Cranes beat Comoros 1-0 in their Group D game played at Mandela National Stadium on Sunday to book their place. Belgian-based professional Farouk Miya netted the important goal on 37 minutes after a cross by defender Joseph Ochaya.
Cranes captain Geoffrey Massa said the outcome was good news for the country.
Uganda qualified as one of the two best runners-up in the group stage while Burkina Faso, who beat visiting Botswana 2-1, qualified as top team in the group.
Uganda and Burkina Faso both ended on 13 points, but the West Africans topped the table because they had beaten Uganda 1-0 at home in the qualifiers.
Massa told the Uganda Observer newspaper: “It was not easy, we were playing a very good team. I’m elated we won. ”
Head coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic told the paper it was “a great day” to see Uganda return to Afcon after last competing in 1978.
“The boys have done the whole nation proud. It was not an easy battle, playing against a team that had nothing to lose.”
He said he had previously won trophies with other teams, but qualifying Uganda for the Afcon was his biggest achievement to date.
Uganda are the only team from the Council for East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa) region that will compete in next year’s Afcon finals.
- Meanwhile, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo and Tunisia filled the final 2017 Afcon places that were up for grabs on Sunday.
They will join Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco, Senegal and Zimbabwe, all of whom had qualified before the final round, as well as hosts Gabon at the tournament.
On a dramatic final day of qualifying, Togo scored five goals, DR Congo and Tunisia four each and Burkina Faso won with a goal nine minutes into stoppage time.
Tunisia won Group A by trouncing Liberia 4-1 in Monastir with a Wahbi Khazri goal after only five minutes, setting the tone.
Liberian Mark Paye cut the deficit to 2-1 on 71 minutes only for the Carthage Eagles to respond with two more goals in the following six minutes.
Togo hammered whipping boys Djibouti 5-0 in Lome in the same group to claim one of two places reserved for the runners-up with the most points.
The Togolese shared second place in the runners-up standings with Benin and Ethiopia, but had a vastly superior goal difference.
DR Congo took control in the second half to whip Central African Republic 4-1 in a top-of-the-table Group B clash and finish five points clear.
A Banou Diawara goal after 99 minutes in Ouagadougou gave Burkina Faso a 2-1 win over Botswana in a match that produced three red cards, two of them to the visitors.
Equatorial Guinea, 2015 Cup of Nations hosts and semifinalists, scored four goals within 16 minutes to crush South Sudan 4-0 in a Group C match in Malabo that had only pride at stake.
In five previous qualifiers against Benin, South Sudan and Mali, the Equatoguineans managed to score just twice in 450 minutes.
