Stephen Ouma
13 April 2008
Nairobi — Uganda thrashed Eritrea 3-0 in their preliminary round second-leg qualifier for the African Cup of Nations Championship in Kampala, on Friday.
The Cranes displayed great skill and dominated the match watched by a capacity crowd at the Kampala Nakivubo stadium.
The hosts could have won by an even bigger margin, but for profligacy.
The Ugandans, who forced a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Asmara a fortnight ago, now qualify for the next round 5-2 on aggregate.
They will now face Tanzania in the next round after the latter beat Kenya 2-1 on aggregate.
Youthful Ugandan stars Dan Wagaluka, Geoffrey Serukuma and Caesar Okhuti fluffed open chances in the match.
Motivate players
The closest Eritrea came to scoring was when striker Brantu Amlason fired a low drive straight to the hands of Ugandan custodian Sam Kawalya.
Uganda scored through Stephen Bengo (41st minute), Geoffrey Serunkuma (54th minute) and Dan Wagaluka (70th minute).
Cranes' German-born tactician, Laszlo Csaba, said he was not bothered by whichever side qualifies to play them, adding that they were focused on playing in the inaugural tournament in Cote d'ivoire.
"We've been training hard and are focused on playing in Cote d'ivoire," he said.
He said if the local football body maintains the same boys and motivates them, then they could even qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Elsewhere, Rwanda have hired Congolese Raoul Shungu as interim coach to allow more time to find a long-term appointment.
Previous experience
The Rwandan Football Federation said Shungu would replace former Dynamo Kiev coach Josip Kuze who quit two months into a two-year contract.
Shungu moves from Rwandan club Rayon Sport and has previous experience of coaching the Seychelles national side.
Rwanda's Amavubi begin their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign on May 31 at home to Mauritania.
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