Uganda Cranes suffered yet another defeat in the Afcon 2023 qualifiers falling to Simon Msuva second half goal as Tanzania edged the contest in Egypt 1-0.
Micho’s side now sit bottom of Group F with a single point from a possible nine.
Simon Msuva scored the winner in the second half to hand the Cranes the second defeat in the campaign after another 2-0 loss to Algeria on match day one.
In a game of minimal chances, Joseph Ochaya failed to tap home in the first half when presented with the opportunity at the far post while Jamal Salim was lucky not to concede from Dismass Novatus free kick which hit the upright and agonisingly went out.
Last Qualifying campaigns
Before the last edition that saw Senegal got crowned the champions(2022), the other two previous editions of the African Cup of Nations, there were visible signs of progress the Cranes, having earned a back-to-back qualification, in Gabon 2017, and also the 2019 event in Egypt.
To qualify for the 2017 Afcon event, the Cranes were breaking a jinx of 38 years since Uganda’s last appearance in the continental championship. The qualification for the 2017 event looked like the beginning of the progress for the Cranes. While qualifying for the next edition of 2019, Uganda had steadily improved, in fact, the Cranes topped their qualifiers group with 13 points.
In the final tournament itself, Uganda progressed up to the last round of sixteen, an improvement from the 2017 edition where Ugandan was eliminated in the group stages. From that, one would think, qualifying for AFCON had become a norm for the senior national soccer team.
Having played up to the round of sixteen in the 2019 edition, Uganda came back boosted to kick off qualifiers for the 2021 edition, and indeed it was a perfect start after sealing seven points from the first three games, Uganda played, two victories against Malawi and South Sudan respectively, and a draw against Burkina Faso.
