Ayub Khalifa Kiyingi, the national U17 women football team head coach remains positive ahead of a crucial away fixture against East African neighbours Tanzania slated for this coming weekend in Dar es salaam.
Ayub is relishing his charges chances of picking a good result away from home despite the absence of some key members of the squad.
Uganda takes on Tanzania in the first leg of the second round of the FIFA U17 Women World Cup Qualifiers on Sunday and will be without defender Stella Musubika and midfielder Kevin Nakacwa who are sidelined by knee and thigh injuries respectively.
Previously when the 2 sides met in the CECAFA U17 women championship late last year in Njeru-Uganda, they laboured to a 1-1 draw.
Ayub feels having the 2 in the squad would have been a big boost but maintains that other members of the team will be able to do the job.
‘We have had very good preparations for the past two weeks equipping the girls with the tactics and knowledge we believe will help us do the job. We will definitely miss the 2 players but again have trust in players available and we have prepared to fill the gaps left by the 2 injured players. We have played a couple of practice matches to fine tune the different departments and can confidently say our striking and midfield departments are more than ready for the task at hand. In the defence we still have a few things to iron out and these also by Sunday we hope to have mastered them.’ Ayub stated.
The U17 team played to a goalless draw in their 4th and final practice match played against a Kampala Select side at Star Times stadium.
The team is set to fly out of the country on Friday afternoon to continue with final preparations ahead of the Sunday duel.
