KAMPALA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Head coach of Uganda's U17 team, Peter Onen has said they are focused on qualification for the 2019 U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
"After finishing third in the CECAFA U-17 Championship in Burundi this year, our target is now to go a step further and qualify for AFCON during the qualifiers next month in Tanzania," Onen told Xinhua on Saturday.
Uganda has been drawn to open their campaign in the 2019 AFCON U-17 qualifiers against Ethiopia on August 12th in Tanzania.
The 2019 AFCON U-17 qualifiers for the Council for East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) region will take place August 11-27 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Onen reasoned Uganda has several talented and well exposed players in the U17 age category. "We shall not be an easy team to beat at the qualifiers," added the coach.
The CECAFA region will have two qualifiers for the 2019 tournament. Tanzania qualifies automatically as hosts of the 2019 AFCON U-17 Championship.
Besides Ethiopia, Uganda is also grouped alongside Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti. Tanzania together with Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and Sudan are in Group A.
African football governing body CAF has asked all teams in Africa that will participate in the qualifiers to carry out MRI tests for the players to ascertain their true ages.
Only one team will qualify from the qualifiers next month to join the other teams from other regions in Africa for the 2019 AFCON U-17 slated for May 12-26th.
The top three teams at the 2019 AFCON U-17 tournament will qualify for FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru 2019.
