Cecafa Challenge Cup: Okello confident Uganda will reach the final

Ugandan striker Allan Okello has heaped praise on Somalia for putting up a brave fight in their Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup match played on Monday.

Many analysts had tipped the 14-time champions to hammer Somalia in a Group A contest but it was not the case as they battled to register a 2-0 win with Okello notching the two goals.

The KCCA FC forward has now admitted Somalia gave them a good game and they never expected they will fight to get a win.

“We played against a very good team, we never thought they would play like this against us, we also faced them once in the qualifiers of Chan and they have proved a difficult side,” Okello told Goal after the match.

“It is a good win for us, very good to get three points and for me as a player, we need to keep working hard, and I am confident we will make it to the final.”

Asked which was his best goal against Somalia, Okello picked the second saying; “My second goal was fantastic because I had to take one and two defenders before I curled it home, I have tried this in training and it was nice to use it in the game and it gave us the second goal.”

Somalia skipper Ahmed Said blamed the team’s defeat on conceding easy goals.

“Uganda scored very easy goals, very easy goals which we should have contained but it was not the case, Uganda have a very good team and we also have a very good team but I am confident we will win our next match.”

Uganda will face Eritrea in the third match of the five-team group on December 11 while Djibouti will face Burundi as Eritrea clash against Somalia.

The competition's semi-final matches will be played on December 17 before paving way for the ultimate clash two days later. The third-place play-off will precede the final game.