By Kei Emmanuel Duku
South Sudan National Team U-20 and 17 has been handed difficult opponent in the group B and A in the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) alongside neighbours Uganda Hippos and host Rwanda.
The group B consists of four teams and which includes Uganda, South Sudan, Burundi and Eritrea and the top three will qualify to the next round of the competition while U-17 has three teams which include South Sudan, Rwanda and Eritrea. CECAFA will determine the teams that qualify to the AFCON U-20 and U-17 finals to be hosted by Mauritania and Morocco respectively.
Currently Uganda are the defending Champion of the CECAFA U-17 after beating Ethiopia 3-1 in finals played in Tanzania Dar-el Salam in 2018 and qualified to the final of the 2019 AFCON U-17, Whereas Tanzania are the defending Champion of the U-20 2019 edition after beating fellow neighbours Kenya 1:0 in the finals.
The CECAFA 2020 draw was conducted yesterday in Nyayo National Stadium-Nairobi via Zoom with a total of ten teams in contention.
CECAFA U-20 GROUPS
Group A: Tanzania (Host and Defending Champions), Rwanda and Somalia
Group B: Uganda, South Sudan, Eritrea and Burundi
Group C: Ethiopia Sudan and Kenya.
CECAFA U-17GROUPS
Group A: South Sudan, Rwanda (Host) and Eritrea
Group B: Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia
Group C: Sudan, Tanzania and Djibouti.
