Uganda Hippos Settle For Silver At The All-Africa Games

The Uganda Hippos, Uganda’s U20 team had to settle for a silver medal after losing to hosts, Ghana in the final. Morley Byekwaso’s boys had tried to hang on till the last minutes but the West African country finally found a way through.

Jerry Afriyie scored the only goal of the game after he took a shot from outside the box. This swung past the Uganda Hippos goalie, Abdu Magada.

Byekwaso’s starting lineup included Abdu Magada(GK), Haruna Lukwago, Juma Ibrahim, Madoi Ronald, Torach Rogers (C), Mutebi Hakim. Others are Allan Oyirwoth Gopere, Usama Arafat, Abasi Kyeyune, Kakande Jonah Patrick, Bruno Bunyoga.

The first half ended goalless despite both teams pushing for an opener. It wasn’t until the 90th minute that Ghana broke the deadlock through their striker. Apparently, the Cranes couldn’t end up with the gold medal and had to settle for bronze.

This is the third continental final between the two countries. And Ghana has come out on top on each occasion. The first meeting between Uganda and Ghana was in the AFCON final in 1978. The Black Stars triumphed 2-0.

Additionally, the next final was in 2020 in the U20 AFCON. Still in the final, the then Uganda Hippos who were under Morley Byekwaso lost 2-0. Despite losing out, the boys really made the country round, especially with their fighting spirit.

They won all their three group stage games. They then went ahead to make a comeback from 2 goals down against DR Congo and won 4-2.

Meanwhile, Uganda’s female football team at the tournament, the Queen Cranes also performed exceptionally well. They won the bronze medal after beating Senegal on penalty kicks.

These games which have had participation from 54 African countries will come to an end today. Uganda has now so far collected 18 medals. Four have been gold, six silver and 8 bronze. Gold came from the Rugby 7’s (men and women), badminton and cycling which fetched two.

For silver, it came from Badminton (1), weight-lifting (2), football (1) and athletics (2). The 8 bronze medals are from Swimming (1), Badminton (1), weight-lifting (1), Athletics (1), Boxing (3) and football (1).