Uganda Cranes will be marking a return to their real home Mandela National Stadium – Namboole after five years when they host Botswana and Algeria in the 2026 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers.
First, it will be Botswana on Friday, June 7 followed by Algeria on Monday, June 10 with both matches scheduled to kick off at 7:00 pm.
Uganda Cranes head coach Paul Put announced the training squad for the two matches and the team has been in camp since last week.
The last Fifa World Cup Qualifying campaign that Uganda Cranes hosted matches at Namboole was the qualifiers for the 2018 Fifa World Cup, which was played over three rounds.
In this article, we revisit that qualifying campaign during which the Cranes won all but one game played at Namboole.
Uganda joined the qualifiers in the second round when they were drawn against Togo. The West Africans hosted the first leg on 12th November 2015 at Stade de Kégué in Lomé, a match Uganda Cranes won 1-0 thanks to Farouk Miya’s first-half goal.
In the return leg hosted at Namboole on 15th November 2015, the Cranes won 3-0. Geoffrey Massa netted an early opener before Farouk Miya added a first-half brace for Uganda to advance to the third and final qualifying round.
The final qualifying round saw teams drawn into five groups of four whose winner would directly qualify for the global showpiece that was hosted by Russia.
Uganda was drawn into Group E alongside Congo Brazzaville, Egypt and Ghana.
Uganda’s first group game was away to Ghana at Tamale Stadium on 7th October 2016 and they held the West Africans to a goalless draw.
On 12th November 2016, the Cranes hosted Congo at Namboole and Farouk Miya was on target for the only goal of the match.
On 31st August 2017, Uganda hosted Egypt. Like the match against Congo, the Cranes won the match 1-0 but it was Emmanuel Okwi who scored the goal early in the second half. When the Cranes played visitors to Egypt in Alexandria on 5th September 2017, Uganda lost the match 1-0.
The return leg against Ghana at Namboole ended in a goalless draw and before completing the campaign with a 1-1 draw away to Congo in a match Milton Karisa netted the equalizer.
Trivia
- Name any player on the current Uganda Cranes squad who were part of the 2018 World Cup Qualifying campaign.
- Who scored Uganda Cranes’ goal the last time they played a World Cup Qualifier at Namboole?
The post FLASHBACK: When Uganda Cranes last hosted FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at Namboole appeared first on MTN Sports.