The Uganda Secondary Schools Sports Association (USSSA) Girls’ Football Championship in Mukono has been paused ahead of the semifinals.
The competition cannot proceed at the moment as semifinalists have players away on national duty with the Uganda Women U20 team, the Queen Cranes, who are preparing to face Ghana in the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
St Noa Girls will face Boni Consilii in one semifinal, while Rines SS takes on Amus College in the other.
St Noa Girls are the most affected, with about seven players in the national team camp. These include goalkeeper Lilian Nakirya, defenders Barbra Anomo and Martha Babirye, as well as midfielders Imelda Kasemire, Patricia Nayiga, Zainab Birungi and Sumaya Nalumu. However, some do not feature for the school team.
Amus College has three representatives: Angella Adeke, Zabinah Nambozo and Vicky Atyeronimungu.
Record champions Kawempe Muslim, who were eliminated by Rines in the quarterfinals, also missed key player Agnes Nabukenya, the Queen Cranes captain.
All four semifinalists have already secured qualification to represent Uganda at the forthcoming FEASSA Games in Morogoro, Tanzania.
However, the semifinal fixtures and final dates had not been confirmed by press time.
Although next week had initially been proposed, that now appears unlikely as USSSA shifts focus and resources to the Boys’ Football Championship in Lira.
There was a meeting involving the three parties — FUFA, the schools and USSSA — to discuss the way forward, with FUFA initially pledging to cater for the teams’ expenses as they wait for the Queen Cranes qualifiers to conclude.
However, the four semifinalists have already left the tournament camp in Mukono, and a final decision is expected later on Friday.
One of the options being considered is having the teams travel to Lira to play the semifinals, third-place playoff and final alongside the Boys Championship.
All other disciplines, including rugby, basketball, netball and tennis, were completed on Thursday.
The Queen Cranes, who lost the first leg 2-1 to Ghana, will hope to overturn the deficit in the return leg at Kadiba Stadium on Saturday. The aggregate winner will qualify for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.
The USSSA Girls Football
Quarter-final Results:
•St. Noa Girls 3-0 Latifah Mixed
•Kawempe Muslim 3(0-0)4 Rines Secondary School
•Boni Concili 5(1-1)4 JIPRA
•Bukedea Comprehensive 0-1 Amus College
Semi-final Fixtures:
•St. Noa Girls Vs Boni Concili
•Rines SS Vs Amus College
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