Uganda suffer to limit damage from African giants

Played her heart out. Captain Norah Alum left everything on pitch and needed medical help after as Uganda lost 10-0 to South Africa. PHOTO/ MAKHTUM MUZIRANSA

What you need to know:

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS - POOL STAGES
M: Egypt 3-1 Uganda
W: South Africa 10-0 Uganda

TODAY: CLASSIFICATION GAMES
M: Uganda vs. Namibia, 12noon
W: Uganda vs. Nigeria

Uganda's men's team lost 3-1 to Egypt yesterday to set up a classification match with Namibia at the hockey Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Accra, Ghana.

Uganda held forte for a whole quarter - keeping it compact in their quarter and ceding possession to the Egyptians.

Coach Francesco Richichi's side then put the cherry on top of their safety first approach when they scored first through Timothy Ntumba's 21st minute goal but Mostafa Ragab replied almost immediately to make it 1-1.

Two minutes later, Egypt took charge through Ziad Adel. The sides played out a goalless third quarter then Mohamed Nasr extended the lead just at the beginning of the final quarter.

"It is not the result we needed but we are happy with the way we played," defender Jordan Mpiima said mentioning the marked change from their 10-3 loss to Nigeria on Tuesday.

"We adopted a new system to man mark and we managed to keep them to just three goals, otherwise if we had stuck to what we were doing, they would have scored more."

The defeat to Nigeria came as a shocker and deflated the spirit in camp as it came after a 1-1 draw with Ghana on Monday. 

It is on the back of it that players asked for Richichi to have a bigger say on their set-up ahead of Egypt than he was allowed to in the first two games by his coaching colleague Vincent Kasasa.

Historically, Egypt - who now rank 26th in the world have tortured Ugandan teams - beating the one that went to the 2000 Afcon 15-0 and the one that went to the 2007 Olympic qualifiers in Nairobi 18-0. 

While 15 years is a long time to close or narrow that gap, Uganda has never been part of a continental engagement since then so it is clear why the 3-1 loss was applauded by both the Ugandan players, who currently rank 91st, and the officials in the stands as a better performance.

"We went defensive because we know Egypt want to keep the ball and will have many good moments if you try to go toe-to-toe with them.

In this moment, the most important thing is for the players to gain match experience and play well tactically," Richichi said.

South Africa punish women
Later in the day, the women's team suffered their heaviest defeat at their debut tournament thus far as they lost 10-0 to defending and six time champions South Africa.

Tarryn Glasby, Tegan Fourie, Lilian du Plessis and Shirndree-Lee Simmons all scored in the first quarter to deflate any hope of the women adopting the men's safety first approach..

The women then held 16th ranked South Africa at bay for the second quarter but Quanita Bobbs and du Plessis made it 6-0 in the third.

A fourth quarter hattrick from Tarryn and a goal from Bernadette Coston took the score to the much dreaded double-digits.

"It is the first time we were playing South Africa and we have taken our lessons. Other teams are really fast and we will need to work on our fitness levels," assistant captain Pauline Korukundo, said.

The defeat came with double jeopardy as defender Winnie Alaro suffered a knee swelling after being on the receiving end of a shot from a short corner. 

The defensive lynchpin was only on for one minute, in a game where her team needed her most, as she has also been suffering with thigh and hand injuries.

Her sister and captain Norah Alum was also overwhelmed by the result and needed quick medical attention from team doctor Emmanuel Ewochu after she collapsed on the bench.

The women, who came into the tournament ranked bottom at 77th, play pool B side Nigeria in a classification match today.