Egypt end Uganda’s Olympic chase

Egypt ran riot at the University of Pretoria hockey grounds in South Africa to end Uganda’s run in men’s Olympic Qualifiers on Friday.
 
Hockey Cranes coach Innocent Raskara made changes to line up. First in goal with Richard Kaijuka rewarded for a good cameo against South Africa in the last pool A game.
 
Richard Ssemwogerere also replaced Timothy Ntumba at the start.
 
Uganda defended purposefully in the first quarter but were undone by Ahmed Elganaini’s deflection from a penalty corner right at the end of the quarter.
 
Uganda tried to get back in the game but trying to balance attack and defence gave their legs away and that allowed Egypt to pick up pace with Hossameldin scoring in the 21st minute and then Said Kamal converting a penalty stroke before Elganaini doubled his money in the 26th minute for a 4-0 lead at halftime.
 
The third quarter brought two more Egyptian goals from Ahmed Gamal and their captain Amr Sayed – a popular figure in Uganda remembered for representing Egypt Police at the Africa Cup of Club Championships in 2014 in Kampala.
 
But those came after Raskara had brought back Ochan in goal. Unfortunately, the goalkeeper, who had started the quarter brilliantly, did not last long as he was hit with the ball around his knee when saving a penalty corner and had to be stretchered off.
 
Gamal made it 7-0 in the 47th minute then Mahmoud Mamdouh converted another penalty corner to make it 8-0 a minute later. The onslaught was ended by Hossam Ghobran in the 50th minute.
 
Positives
However, Uganda got a consolation in the 57th minute when Ashraf Tumwesigye won a foul and started the ball quickly to find Maxwell Mugisha unmarked in the D.
 
“I think we lacked the right coordination to play today and we will need to train together a lot more,” goalkeeper Kaijuka said.
 
His brother and captain Emmanuel Baguma, was celebrating the birth of his son on the day, and was more positive saying; “we are here to learn through these games and hopefully we will be better next time.”
 
Uganda now shift attention to fighting for bronze on Sunday. By press time they were waiting to know their opponents from the night match between South Africa and Ghana.