Tanzania and Zanzibar picked wins in their opening Group B matches at the ongoing CECAFA U18 Boys Championship 2023 in Kenya.

In a highly contested match, Tanzania stopped Uganda 1-0 in the second match played at the Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega. Despite arriving on Saturday by road, the Tanzanian team looked fresh and was up to task scoring through Wilson Sharif after 15 minutes. Sharif made no mistake curling in a free-kick that beat Uganda’s goalkeeper Abdu Magada.

The two teams continued to create scoring chances under the wet ground. Uganda later introduced Travis Mutyaba in the second half, but the Dinamo Tbilisi player in Georgia also found the going tough on the wet surface. Habibu Kondo Kikwayu, the Tanzanian coach said it was good to start with a win against a strong Ugandan team. ”We need to keep working hard because there are many more games in this competition to be played,” said Kikwayu.

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The Uganda coach Morley Byekwaso said although his team created many scoring opportunities, they need to be more clinical. ” Even the wet surface with a lot of water affected us, but we must prepare and bounce back strongly,” he added.

The earlier match saw Zanzibar defeat South Sudan 1-0. Moh’d Mohd Ali netted the lone goal for Tanzania after 12 minutes. South Sudan tried to fight back but failed to break the defending department of the Zanzibar team. The 15-year-old Lazarus Peter George Laku who was the top scorer at the recent

CECAFA U15 Boys Championship also featured for the South Sudan team. Action will return on Tuesday in Group A as hosts Kenya face Rwanda, while Somalia takes on Sudan in the second match at the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium in Kisumu.