Uganda vs South Africa

It may be determined this week as a result of Group K in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Uganda and South Africa will face each other in the Mandela National Stadium in Kampala on Friday afternoon.

In this match both these sides will see their clean records under pressure here; the winners from this match will be assured their place in the final tournament to be held in Morocco next year.

Uganda arrived to these qualifiers as the third choice to progress from this group but they have surprised most football analysts with a string of three successive wins and a draw ahead of the last two matches.

The Cranes got back to the top of the group last month by beating South Sudan 1-0, at home and 2-1, away after a 2-0 victory over Congo on the second match, in September.

The only two losses have been registered by Paul Put’s side in this competition came earlier in this tournament when they paid a visit to the forthcoming adversaries’ compound where they only BEST only to be forced to a 1-All draw because of a final kick equalizer from Thalente Mbatha.

However, the Cranes have had a very good year having only lost two out of their nine games in 2024; the two losses came in Comoros friendly match early March and 2-1 to Algeria in the World cup qualifier in June.

But as they should approach this match with full confidence and a handy buffer over third placed Congo, it would be pertinent to note that Uganda has never triumphed over this side in five prior outings stretching back to the last two decades (W0 D1 L4).

On the other hand, after many years of struggling on the internationals stage, South Africa bounced back this year when they performed tremendously in the 2023 AFCON with a third place after defeating DR Congo.

However, the visitors are worried that they would be without some important attacking players for this month's games, such as Lyle Foster of Burnley, who scored two goals for the side in the first four qualifiers.

Last Monday, Put revealed his 27-man roster for the final two AFCON qualifying matches, which includes two uncapped players: goalie Mutwalibi Mugolofa and teenager John Paul Dembe.

Mugolofa has maintained five clean sheets in six games for his team this season, while Dembe, who plays for Allsvenskan team Hacken, recently ended as the top scorer with six goals in the zonal Under-20s African Championship.