Uganda Sand Cranes had a false start to the 2022 Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations after suffering defeat to Senegal on Saturday.
This was the first game in group B as Uganda Sand Cranes played the defending Champions Senegal led Uganda in the 3 periods of the game that are played in a duration of 12 minutes per period.
Senegal scored their first goal through Amar Samb in the second minute of the game and Seydina Diagne made it 2-0 before Raoul Mendy scored a brace to send into a 4-0 lead at the end of the first period.
In the second period, Sand Cranes worked collectively to defend the long ball from the Senegal players until the last seconds of the period when Seydina Diagne scored a free style goal.
In the third period Uganda Sand Cranes tried all avenues possible but Senegal looked strong and defensive before Amar Samb added a second goal, and Mamadou Sylla made it 10:1 with a minute left in the third period
Uganda’s only goal which was a consolation was scored by captain Baker Luukooya.
Uganda plays it’s next game on Sunday 23rd October 2022 against Madagasacar that lost to Egypt in the second match of group B
Angelo Schirinzi the head coach spoke of the superiority of their opponents and said they could not match their power .
“It wasn’t really a good start for us. We came into this game aware that we would be facing the defending Champions and we also expected to face difficulties and that is realistic. Now we have to think about our next opponents, in this case Madagascar and Egypt. We must beat these opponents to reach the semifinals.” He said.
In the other games of the day Egypt beat Madagascar 4(4)-4(3).