Uganda stunned the Black Stars of Ghana with a lone goal victory at the Namboole Stadium in Kampala in the 2015 AFCON qualifiers to make Ghana’s journey to the main tournament a longer one.
The home side scored in the 11th minute when Savio Kabugo met a corner from the right after some poor judgement from goalkeeper Razak Braimah and defender Jonathan Mensah.
The home side were boosted by the goal and went looking for more but were not successful. Ghana, on the other hand, looked slow and it took 41 minutes for the team’s first shot on target to be registered after Christian Atsu’s left-footed drive was saved by Uganda goalie Dennis Onyango.
The second half was better for Ghana as their actions depicted a team looking for an equaliser and they were almost rewarded when Abdul Majeed Waris held off two defenders to drive at Onyango but the effort lacked the pace and curl to beat Onyango.
The Ugandans, however, found their way back into the game and it was through Ghana’s right hand side that provided their route to goal because of Harrison Afful’s unusual off-colour performance.
Substitute Dan Serenkuma constantly probed Afful and he found the passage to provide crosses fairly easily.
Ghana coach Maxwell Konadu made changes as he brought on Mubarak Wakaso for stand-in captain Andre Ayew, David Accam for Christian Atsu and Solomon Asante for Afriyie Acquah to get the Black Stars an equaliser but it did not happen.
The Ugandans held on for a very important win that was greeted with a lot of excitement from the fans.
The result leaves Ghana on 8 points but Uganda now have 7 points. A win for Togo will push them to 9 points while a victory for Guinea will send them to 7 points.
Uganda face Guinea next Wednesday while Ghana will face Togo in Tamale for places in the AFCON 2015 to be played in Equatorial Guinea.
Uganda lineup:
Onyango; Isinde, Andy, Kabugo, Majwega; Mawejje, Miya; Luwagga, Serumaga; Sentamu, Massa.
Ghana lineup:
Razak; Afful, Rahman, Boye, Mensah, Badu, Acquah, Rabui; Atsu, Dede (c); Warris.
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana