Given the dominance of Tanzanian and Kenyan national teams in the region, Uganda league champions Lady Doves travelled to Kenya as underdogs as the Caf Women’s Champions League zonal qualifiers start in Nairobi on Saturday.
That is however unlikely to dampen their spirits as the eight-team championship kicks off.
“Many will look at us as that (underdogs) but that does not mean anything because we have the players that can make a difference,” coach Fred Musiime told journalists during team’s flag-off at Uganda Martyrs High School (UMHS) – Lubaga playground, where the side has camped for the last two months.
Doves are in Group A, where they open the tournament against Djibouti’s FAD and later take on Burundi’s PVP and Tanzania’s Simba Queens.
They have some national team players like captain Daisy Nakaziro, forward Fazila Ikwaput – who even has some European champions league experience having played in Kazakhstan – Norah Alupo, Gloria Namugerwa, Spencer Nakacwa, Riticia Nabbosa and Daphine Nyayenga.
But, in the past, these have done little to change Uganda’s fortunes against its East African neighbours.
Riticia Nabbosa is expected to provide the creative spark in the squad with her varied range of passing giving Doves the ability to control games or an option to release Fazila Ikwaput into space.
Coach Fred Musiime’s side has signed five players on a temporary basis – most of them (Daphine Nyayenga, Gloria Namugerwa, Harima Kanyago and Spencer Nakacwa) from Uganda Martyrs High School, Lubaga, where they camped for two months before heading out to Nairobi yesterday. The other one, goalkeeper Zahara Nankya, is from She Mak.
The winner from the CECAFA qualifiers will join the other seven to battle in the 2021 TotalEnergies Women’s Champions League to be held in Egypt.
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