Uganda, Burkina Faso

The Uganda Cranes were held to a goalless draw by Burkina Faso in their 5th Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at St. Mary’s stadium, Kitende.

Uganda Cranes who looked like the better side especially in the second half, twice tried the wood work through Ibrahim Orit and Faruku Miya but could not find the back of the net.

Burkina Faso looked comfortable with sitting back and holding onto a point as they rarely gave Cranes a good run for their money.

The draws sees Uganda move to eight points and they stay in second spot on the group B table. For Burkina Faso, they maintain top spot and now move to nine points with just one game to play.

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With Malawi beating South Sudan 1-0 in the other group B game, Uganda now needs to avoid defeat in their final game to ensure they seal a spot at the finals in Cameroon.

Starting the day second with seven points, the Cranes were attempting to give themselves a decent chance of qualifying and not relaying on results elsewhere.

However, having lost to South Sudan in their last game, and also struggling to dispatch the same side 1-0 on match-day three, there were concerns going into Wednesday’s game.

The absence of Khalid Aucho in the midfield saw Tadeo Lwanga start alongside Mike Azira and the Simba SC player got himself into early trouble as he was booked inside the opening quarter of the hour.

The Cranes started in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Faruku Miya, Abdu Lumala and Emmanuel Okwi playing behind striker Patrick Kaddu.

Uganda, Burkina Faso

With seven minutes to play, Miya collected from Waiswa before sending his delicate first-time effort onto the left-hand post and allowing Burkina Faso to clear their lines.

Lumala who was featuring in his first game on Ugandan soil, failed to take advantage of his pace and explosiveness and casually gave away possession on several occasions.