Overview:
Byekwaso was part of the Uganda Kobs (U-23 team) that represented Uganda at the All African Games in South Africa, way back in 1999.He returns to the same games in capacity of a coach and guides the team to the final with a gold medal looming; at worst a silver.
Uganda Hippos’ performance at 2023 African Games:
- Uganda 2-1 Nigeria (Group Stage)
- Uganda 1-0 Senegal (Group Stage)
- Uganda 1-0 South Sudan (Group Stage)
- Uganda 4-2 Congo (Semi-final)
Uganda U-20 men football team (The Hippos) will play in the final of the 13th African Games against host country Ghana this Friday.
To reach thus far, Uganda won four games; against Nigeria (2-1), Senegal (1-0), South Sudan (1-0) and Congo (4-2); scoring 8 goals and conceding 3 in four matches.
The man in charge of team Uganda is Morley Byekwaso Ochama, who heads the technical team that also has Simeon Masaba (assistant), Steven Billy Kiggundu (goalkeeping trainer), Noah “Babadi” Kasule (trainer) among others.
Moments after the semi-final come back display over Congo (Uganda recovered from two goals down to win 4-2), Byekwaso confessed that it remains a dream for Uganda to follow the path of Africa’s finest football playing countries.
“We emulate the best footballing countries in Africa as Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana and many others. As a country, we do a lot of research and we pick the knowledge from these football greats” Byekwaso stated.
During the final on Friday, Byekwaso faces Ghana, the hosts of this championship.
Ghana out-smarted Senegal 1-0 to book their final berth and Byekwaso faces yet another football giant on the continent.
“If I were to choose between Senegal and Ghana, I would say Ghana. I have already played Senegal and in the same tournament, it is tricky to play a team two times” he said moments before the second semi-final.
He cites the relevance of such a tournament in as far as development of the players is concerned.
“We have worked a lot to be here. The preparations started back home and also build ups in Ethiopia. We have picked a lot from the championship as we take something back home to help our players develop further.” Byekwaso added.
Byekwaso was part of the Uganda Kobs (U-23 team) that represented Uganda at the All African Games in South Africa, way back in 1999.
He returns to the same games in capacity of a coach and guides the team to the final with a gold medal looming; at worst a silver.
In 2020, he guided Uganda to the CAF U-20 silver medal; falling to Ghana in the final.
