Uganda head coach Paul Put has said his team’s failure to beat Tanzania and not the defeat to Nigeria’s Super Eagles cost his side qualification to the round of 16 of the AFCON 2025.
The Cranes needed to defeat the Super Eagles to stand a chance of making it to the first knockout round.
Put’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Tanzania in their second Group C fixture after a 3-1 loss in their opener.
Against Tanzania, the Cranes had a golden opportunity to win late in the game but missed a penalty kick.
That penalty miss proved costly as they now needed to defeat the Super Eagles to progress but unfortunately suffered a 3-1 defeat.
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Paul Onuachu gave the Super Eagles a first half lead before Raphael Onyedika bagged a brace in the second half to seal the win.
Reflecting on his side’s exit, Put admitted that it was always going to be a tall order for his side to beat the Super Eagles to secure qualification.
“I think we shouldn’t have come looking for qualification facing Nigeria,” Put stated. “We had the opportunity against Tanzania to qualify for the round of 16, if we had won that game we wouldn’t have the problem of facing Nigeria.
“We were under pressure and you can’t blame this players because they don’t have the experience so they were under pressure.
“It’s always difficult facing Nigeria who has a very good team and I think we didn’t lose our qualification ticket to Nigeria, I think we lost our qualification ticket to Tanzania.”
Meanwhile, Tanzania booked their place in the round of 16 after finishing as one of the best third placed teams, and will face hosts Morocco.
The Taifas secured their place in the elimination round thanks to a 1-1 draw with Tunisia on Tuesday.
By James Agberebi in Fes, Morocco
