David Gombe
Uganda Cranes are on the verge of securing a place at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after a 2-1 win over neighbors South Sudan on Tuesday in Juba.
Denis Omedi and an own goal from Alfred Leku earned the Cranes maximum points and are currently top of Group K with 10 points.
The Cranes will seal a place in next year’s continental showpiece in case South Africa beat Congo Brazzaville in the other game in Group K.
In Juba, Uganda Cranes head coach Paul Joseph Put made three changes from the team that started against South Sudan last week at Namboole.
Allan Okello, Taddeo Lwanga who was unused substitute and Derrick Nsibambi who didn’t make the substitute bench all started the contest in Juba.
Ronald Ssekiganda, Travis Mutyaba and Jude Semugabi dropped to the bench.
Denis Omedi netted his second goal of this qualification campaign after being fed by Okello in the 15 minute.
Yohanna Juma levelled matters for the hosts six minutes later off a Leku assist. The two sides went into the halftime breather with the scores level.
Early in the second half, Put made two changes with Mutyaba replacing Okello while Timothy Awany came on for injured Halid Lwaliwa.
In the 65th minute, Leku netted in his own net off a Mutyaba free kick.
The Cranes held on to complete a double over South Sudan and will await the result between South Africa and Congo Brazzaville. A win for the 1996 champions sees Uganda return to the showpiece after missing out on the previous two editions.
For South Sudan, their dream of progressing to AFCON ends after a fourth straight defeat.
