Challenge Cup Results

Monday
Burundi    3-0  Somalia

Yesterday
Eritrea      3-2  Djibouti

Amavubi  0-2   Cranes

Today
Kenya   v   Burundi   12.30pm

Somalia  v  Tanzania 3pm

Amavubi Stars chances of topping group B were dealt a main blow yesterday when they lost to bitter rivals Uganda Cranes in the on going  GTV sponsored Cecafa senior Challenge Cup in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Goals from Simon Masaba and Ethiopian based mid fielder , Assani Bajope were enough to fulfill Hungarian born coach Laszlo Csaba dreams of earning maximum points against a side which has nipped Cranes in various past Cecafa outings.

Amavubi Stars had midfield mess-ups to blame for their loss as the team’s leading striker Labama Kamana Bokota was also substituted at the start of the second half as his usually brilliance went a mess at the hour of need to combine well with the jet lagged Olivier Karekezi. 

Despite Kuze bringing on Hegman Ngoma and Abedi Mulenda for Eric Gasana (Mbuyu Twite), little did they know Uganda would take this chance of poor substitution to earn deserved points.

And a red card to Patrick Mafisango in 70th minute made the situation worse for Croatian Josip Kuze who was in charge for the second game as Amavubi coach.

Mafisango got the matching orders after an uncalled for tackle on Hamisi Kitagenda which earned the midfielder his second yellow card of the match. 
Uganda Cranes, major contenders for this year’s Cecafa Cup tournament have maintained their form days after walloping Djibouti 7-0 in group B opening match over the weekend.

Amavubi displayed good soccer in the first half despite failure to utilize for their goal opportunities.

Amavubi Stars, winners of the regional tournament in 1998 have to win their remaining group B fixture against Djibouti tomorrow so as to secure a chance of qualifying to the quarter-finals of this year’s lucrative regional football tournament.

Rwanda’s went into the game with an historical advantage of having been able to nip victories over their northern neighbors in the previous Cecafa meetings. Rwanda last beat Uganda 1-0 after extra time at the semifinal in the 2005
edition and followed that with yet another win for third place 5-4 on penalties last year.

Last year, the two sides were grouped in the same where the Cranes defeated Amavubi 1-0 in the group stages but both teams qualified to the later stages.

Both teams were eliminated at the semi-final stage with Zambia winning the title in Ethiopia. Rwanda lost to Zambia 1-0 while Uganda lost to Sudan 5-6 on penalties, the tie had finished 2-2 after full time.

The 1998 winners, Rwanda is among the 11 countries contesting for regional supremacy in addition to $30,000 (about Frw.16M) prize money at stake for the eventual champion.

In the other group B game, Eritrea secured a narrow 3-2 win to go on level three points with Rwanda while pointless Djibouti lays bottom of the table. Uganda unbeaten in two fixtures leads with six points.

Group B standings

                 P   W   L    D    Pts

Uganda     2     2    0    0      6

Rwanda    2     1   1      0      3

Eritrea      2     1   1    0       3 

Djibouti    2     0   2    0       0