Uganda’s National U17 Youth team dubbed ‘Cubs’ flew out of the country on Friday morning for an invitational tournament in Turkey minus Vipers junior team striker Najib Yiga who surprisingly couldn’t make the final squad.
The Cecafa U17 winners together with seven other African countries who qualified for the Africa Youth Championship were all invited for this tournament in Antalya Turkey by UEFA purposely to adequately fine tune for the final tournament which gets underway next month in Dar es salaam, Tanzania.
Yiga is Vipers leading scorer in the Fufa Juniors League with 13 goals and vying for the overall accolade with Sadat Anaku of KCCA, however, the youngster who was part of the 30 player provisional squad summoned a fortnight ago for a training camp at Njeru Technical centre remains optimistic of future chances.
“I am sure there will always be another chance for me and other players who failed to make the final squad thus no hope is lost though am going to work harder for the future,” said the youthful striker.
He was part of the Cubs team that won the Cecafa regional final last August in Tanzania as they qualified for the Africa U17 Youth Championship that will be staged later this year to determine the continent’s representatives at the World Cup.
Despite Yiga’s omission, Vipers is ably represented by a trio of Gavin Kizito who is the captain, midfielder Ivan Asaba and left winger Yasin Owane.
Uganda is in Group 2 with Cameroon, Morocco and Belarus. They open their campaign against Cameroon on Monday, then play Morocco on Wednesday before winding up the group match against Belarus.
Uganda U17 Squad in Turkey:
Ivan Asaba (Vipers SC), Ekellot Ibrahim (KCCA FC), Ibrahim Juma (KCCA FC), Jarieko James (Paidha Black Angels FC), John Kokas Alou (URA FC), John Rogers (Onduparaka FC), Kakaire Thomas (Bright Stars FC), Kakande Shafic (Bright Stars FC), Kasozi Samson (Bright Stars FC), Kevin Ssekimbegga (Express FC), Kiddawalime Soul (Super Cubs), Kizito Mugweri Gavin (Vipers SC), Mugisha Rogers (Mbarara City FC), Mugulusi Isma (Kirinya Jinja SS FC), Mwaka Polycarp (Kirinya Jinja SS FC), Opaala Edwine Mukisa (Kirinya Jinja SS FC), Ssekajja Davis (Bright Stars FC), Wasswanga Shafik (Ndejje University FC), Yasin Abdu Owane (Vipers SC), Ziraba Ronnie (Express FC)