TotalEnergies CAF U17 AFCON Morocco 2025: Uganda coach Brian Ssenyondo describes Group A as 'group of death"
Head coach of the Uganda U-17 national team, Brian Ssenyondo believes his side has been drawn into one of the toughest groups of the upcoming TotalEnergies CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025.
The continental youth competition, which serves as a qualifier for the 10 African teams that will compete at this year's FIFA U-17 World Cup will take place in Morocco between 30 March – 19 April 2025.
Following the draw which was conducted at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo last week, the former Kitara FC coach said the team's target was qualifying for the FIFA U-17 World Cup but must first navigate what he described as the 'group of death' of the competition.
'I would say it is a group of death because all the teams are very hard but we started this journey with just one target, which is to qualify for the World Cup and we will give it our all to see to it that at the end of the matches in the group, we are through to the world cup', said Ssenyondo.
The young tactician, who will be leading the Uganda Cubs to their second TotalEnergies CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations also weighed in on the three Group A opponents Morocco, Tanzania and Zambia.
'We have been waiting for this draw and luckily enough, we now know who we will play. It is not a draw you' welcome but one you will take. Facing Morocco there as hosts will make the group hard. We are playing the hosts who know what it means to qualify for a World Cup. The other team is Tanzania. It's always a hard one against Tanzania. The opponent we have not read about much is Zambia. They have played in the COSAFA competitions which makes them a hard opponent,' added the coach.
Uganda's first and last appearance at the TotalEnergies CAF U-17 AFCON was in the 2019 edition held in Tanzania where they narrowly missed out on a knockout stage spot. The East African nation suffered a narrow 1-0 loss to Angola, drew 1-1 against Nigeria and overcame hosts, Tanzania 3-0 which unfortunately was not enough to see them through.
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