By James Robert Kayindi
Uganda Cranes have continued with their brilliant performance at home after beating Guinea Bissau at the Mandela National stadium on Wednesday late evening. Cranes had a double lead at the mark of half time after Massa’s brace.
Uganda looked strong at the beginning of the game as Guinea showed off their classic football of the tic-tack style, however the respect for each other’s side saw no goal attempts in the first five minutes of the game. In the sixth minute, Uganda made their first attempt on a goal through Moses Oloya’s cross that saw some bit of clumsy defending from Camara Fode who almost connected to his own net but was fortunate for his miss clearance to end in a corner.
Sylla Idrissa made Guinea’s first serious attempt in the 20th minute of the game from his long range shot that was comfortably dealt with by Dennis Onyango. Just a minute later, Geoffrey Massa set Namboole ablaze when he gave Uganda cranes the lead from Moses Oloya’s brilliant cross from the right flank that was slightly headed by Khalid Aucho before being received by the Pretoria University based striker.
Onyango was taken by surprise to save again from Ibrahim Traore’s 23yard shot which ended into a corner that the cranes calmly defended. Three minutes to the end of the first half, Masa extended Cranes’ lead with a fine strike upon receiving an exquisite pass from Luwagga Kizito.
The second half saw no goals despite all efforts by both sides with Guinea looking the better side with continued attacks on the Cranes’ goal. Substitutions started as early as 10minutes into the second half with Guinea coach Michel Dussuyer bringing on Landel Lucien for Conte Ibrahim Sory. Five minutes later, the in-despicable happened when Namboole suffered a total blackout for about 10minutes thanks to Umeme. Immediately from the blackout break, coach Micho made his first change and brought on Brian Majwega for Moses Oloya.
Guinea’s bid to pick a point from the game saw Dussuyer make his second change in the 75th minute when he introduced Ismael Bangoura to replace Idrissa. Just seconds onto the pitch, Bangoura made his first attempt on goal with a shot from outside the 18yards box but his short went wide.
In other changes, Micho withdrew midfielder Khalid Aucho for striker Brian Umony and later Robert Ssentongo for Massa during added time.
Despite Ghana having beaten Togo by 3-2, Uganda’s victory left them top of group E with four points owing to a better goal difference. Guinea are now third on three points and Togo at the bottom with zero points.
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