South Sudan, Uganda step-up preps ahead of AFCON U-20

_{The national U-20 teams of South Sudan and Uganda have stepped up preparations ahead of the U-20 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023.}

_{Egypt will host the competition from February 19th to March 11th, 2023. For the first time the AFCON U-20 will attract 12 teams that are pooled in three groups.}

_{South Sudan and Uganda, the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) representatives have all been pooled in Group B that will also have The Central African Republic and Congo Brazzaville.}

_{Stefano Cusin, also the head coach of the South Sudan national team has been handling the U-20 team before they travel to Cairo, Egypt on Monday. The South Sudan team is expected to pitch camp in Egypt where they will also play three friendly matches.}

_{“The team has been putting in a lot of effort during training and the camp in Egypt will also help us better,” added Cusin. Victor Lawrence Lual, the Secretary General of the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) confirmed that the team will play a friendly match against Egypt’s U-20 team on February 10th in Cairo. “We shall also have two other build-up matches before the tournament,” added Lual.}

_{For the CECAFA U-20 champions Uganda Hippos have also been preparing for over two weeks in Njeru before shifting to Kampala. Head coach Jackson Mayanja has made it clear that his target is to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.}

_{“We know what is at stake and the players know what we expect from them. We have stepped up with training and we shall continue to play more build-up matches,” added Mayanja.}

_{The tournament in Egypt will also double as the African qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023 to be held in Indonesia. The top four teams will qualify for the World Cup.}