Lutalo gets Crested Cranes firing in the right direction

Crested Cranes coach George Lutalo is confident the national team can only get better after their Cecafa Women Championship triumph at Fufa Technical Centre, Njeru on Saturday.
Uganda beat Burundi 3-1 in the final to complete the tournament with five wins, 15 goals scored, two conceded and three clean sheets.

Tournament best goalkeeper Daisy Nakaziro and defender Margaret Namirimu were a commanding presence in a defence that had three U-20 graduates in Asia Nakibuuka, Sumaya Komuntale and Aisha Nantongo.
Nakibuuka particularly looked more comfortable as a right-back than she has ever looked as a left-back for her club Kawempe Muslim and centre back for the U-20s.

The brand of football was particularly interesting as the hosts dominated their matches with captain Hasifah Nassuna providing the technical leadership in a midfield role.
Nassuna is known for her goals and was until the beginning of this tournament Uganda’s top scorer in three Cecafa competitions with nine goals.

Lutalo took away the pressure of getting goals from her and turned her into creator-in-chief. She repaid the faith by orchestrating play – with five assists.
Her partnerships with Shamirah Nalugya, and sometimes Phiona Nabbumba, at the top of the midfield triangle provided the creativity Uganda, which had formerly heavily relied on set-pieces for goals, needed.
Nassuna and whoever partnered her still retained the discipline to help Joan Nabirye with defensive duties.

Room for more forwards
Set-pieces are still an asset as Uganda needed one turned in by Aisha Nantongo to unlock Djibouti and Fazila Ikwaput acrobatically finished off a corner kick in extra time to eliminate Ethiopia in the semifinal.

Although, there are glaring concerns about the ability to finish off freekicks as Uganda did not convert any of the countless attempts in that area, in the end, they were not needed as moving Nassuna to midfield also opened up space in the attacking position for Lutalo to field three other forwards.
In the first match against Rwanda, he went for Natasha Shirazi and Margaret Kunihira on the right and left of Ikwaput, respectively.

But Shirazi had a tough homecoming and was withdrawn after the first half, allowing Ikwaput, who prefers to run in from wide positions, to freely switch wings with either Kunihara or Lillian Mutuuzo for most of the tournament.
For scoring five decisive goals and at least once in each game, Ikwaput, who now leads Uganda’s Cecafa goal output with 12, was named tournament most valuable player (MVP).

The freed central striking role was given first to Juliet Nalukenge against Djibouti and Burundi, where she twice assisted Ikwaput. And Sandra Nabweteme for the latter stages in those matches and the two knockout games, where she scored a combined five goals.
Getting Nabweteme to fire again after over six months of no football action and on the back of three disappointing call ups to the national team between 2019 and 2021 could be Lutalo’s biggest feat after winning the Cecafa trophy.

Need goals off the bench
If Lutalo sticks to the forward line of Kunihira, Nabweteme and Ikwaput at the July 2-23 Africa Women Cup of Nations in Morocco, then his next task will be to find someone that comes off the bench who can score goals. 
Nalukenge, by her standards set in the youth tournaments, had a tournament to forget in that role as she was not fielded for the 120-minute semifinal and the final.

Mutuuzo convinced with her trickery but needs to work on her final ball.
“We want to keep building a team that people will enjoy to watch,” Lutalo said.“We had a tough second half in the final and I’m sorry that we did not entertain the fans but we needed to win the tournament too.”

Winning tournaments will pave the way and set the standards for younger girls in the future that want to represent the Crested Cranes and play football.

Crested Cranes results

Group stage
Uganda     2 Rwanda    0
Goals
Fazila Ikwaput
Assists
Shamirah Nalugya, Hasifah Nassuna

Uganda     5
Djibouti    0
Goals
Aisha Nantongo, Margaret Namirimu, Phiona Nabbumba, Sandra Nabweteme, Fazila Ikwaput
Assists
Margaret Kunihira, Hasifah Nassuna, Fazila Ikwaput, Juliet Nalukenge

Uganda     4
Burundi    1
Goals
Fazila Ikwaput, Sandra Nabweteme (2), Shamirah Nalugya
Assists
Juliet Nalukenge, Margaret Kunihira, Hasifah Nassuna

Semifinal
Uganda      1
Ethiopia    0
Goal
Fazila Ikwaput
Assists
Hasifah Nassuna

Final
Uganda    3
Burundi    1
Goals
Sandra Nabweteme (2), Fazila Ikwaput
Assists
Hasifah Nassuna, Sandra Nabweteme, Aisha Nantongo

Cecafa Women Champs
CHAMPIONSHIP RESULT
Uganda    3 - 1    Burundi
THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF
Ethiopia    2 - 1    Tanzania
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