SAN FRANCISCO, November 16, (THEWILL) –Â Tito Okello scored against the country of his birth as Uganda lost 1-0 to South Sudan at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on Monday. It meant the Sudanese picked up their first win of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
Okello converted a penalty to give the South Sudanese the win and slow down Uganda’s march to Cameroon 2022. The win notwithstanding, South Sudan remain bottom of Group B while Uganda are second with seven points.
The contestants finished the fixture with 10 men each as Uganda’s Khalid Aucho was sent off after 31 minutes with a straight red and South Sudan had substitute Saad Musa sent off for a second yellow card with only 10 minutes of the game left.
South Sudan finished the first half on top with Okello’s penalty. Coincidentally, South Sudan won the penalty after another Okello, Allan Okello, hacked down Manyumow Achol inside the box.
This happened just five minutes after Aucho got his marching orders with a straight red card for pulling Okello as the last man in defence. The striker was through on goal after intercepting a short pass from Timothy Awany.
The Ugandans had the first effort at goal in the fifth minute when Okello cut back the ball for Faruk Miya, but the forward’s shot at goal was weak.
The earliest chance for South Sudan was in the 21st minute. Makueth Wol found some space down the right flank from a cross on the left, but his stinging shot flew straight into keeper Dennis Onyango’s arms. Miya had another chance five minutes later from a freekick, his well taken effort flying just over the bar.
Uganda effected some substitutions after going one man down and one goal down. Coach Jonathan McKinstry opted to sort out the defensive midfield gap and replaced Kizito Luwaga with Mike Azira.
In search for an equaliser, Uganda piled the pressure in the second half. The introduction of Emmanuel Okwi spiced up the attack. And only the keeper kept the score, stopping the player when Okwi broke into the box on the hour mark. The rebound from Okwi flew straight to the custodian.
Two good chances from Miya later on went begging. First, his freekick from range went narrowly wide and then, in the 73rd minute, his well placed curler rattled the crossbar.
South Sudan were troubled in the 80th minute when Musa was sent off for a second yellow card, but, in the end, Africa’s youngest nation managed to contain the Ugandans and ensure they picked a memorable victory.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
