By Spy Uganda
Tension gripped Ugandans all over the world as the Cranes encountered team Zimbabwe in the Total AFCON 2019 tournament in Cairo, Egypt last night.
The match which was watched by a big crowd at the Cairo International Stadium on Wednesday night, started in high gear after Cranes striker Arnold Emmanuel Okwi scored in the 13th minute. Sweden based Abdu Lumala blasted a hard shot that the Zimbabwe goalkeeper parried back into play finding well positioned Okwi who tapped it in. It was Okwi’s second goal of the tournament after he scored in the 2-0 win against DR Congo in the opening game.
However,the Warriors of Zimbabwe fought from a goal down to hold Uganda Cranes to a 1-1 draw in Group A. Warriors fought back strongly to dominate play and cause problems in the Cranes defense. South African based Khama Billiat continued to trouble the Cranes and had two shots miss the target.
Billiat however made it 1-1 with a neat tap-in after the Ugandan defenders failed to block a neat pass. In the second half the Warriors continued to dominate play and again Uganda’s Dennis Onyango was called in to stop a shot at the line, while another hit the cross bar. The absence of Murushid Juuko in Uganda’s defense caused a lot of questionable defending. The Tanzania based defender was rested by coach Sebastien Desabre because he picked a yellow card in the opening game. Uganda Cranes will next face hosts Egypt on June 30th in the last Group game at the Cario Stadium, while Zimbabwe take on DR Congo the same day at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo. Meanwhile, later in the night the hosts Egypt faced off with DR Congo, who they hammered 2-0 to secure their place in the round of 16.
