Kei Emmanuel Duku
Bright Stars national football team was dealt a blow in 2025 African Cup of Nations TotalEnergies Qualifiers after they were beaten a goal to nil by Uganda Cranes last week in Mandela National Stadium in Kampala-Uganda.
This is the third straight defeat for the Bright Stars in a space of one month after losing the opening matches to Congo Brazzaville and South Africa 1:0 and 3:2 respectively.
Dudu Bosco, former Coach for Al-Nasir FC Juba and now the Assistant Coach for National Enterprising Cooperation (NEC) in Uganda Primer League having watched the game said the Bright Stars put in a spirited performance especially in the second half after they were held to a goalless draw in the first 45th minutes.
Bosco said the Bright Stars started the game with a lot of fear and allowed the Uganda Cranes to attack them throughout the first half.
However, two minutes into the start of the second half South Sudan conceded a goal through Bevis Mugabi.
“That goal would have been avoided, the defender had options, and I don’t know why he was in panic and had to kick the ball outside for a corner kick and attracted more danger, but again you would have seen the Bright Stars suffocated Uganda Cranes a lot if they were to have clinical strikers who can benefit from Rashid Okocha’s crossings, they would have collected the maximum points from Uganda,” said Bosco.
The Former Al-Nasri and Padhia Black Angles tactician said the current form and performance of the Bright against Uganda Cranes and other group opponents and the number of goals conceded shows a significant improvement in the national team.
The last time South Sudan won against Uganda Cranes was in an AFCON 2021 qualifier match played at the Nyayo International Stadium, in Kenya where Tito Okello scored the lone goal in the 36th to deny Uganda Cranes the chance of reaching Cameroon.
The Friday clash between Uganda Cranes and South Sudan Bright Stars is the sixth meeting with Uganda Cranes winning 4, drawing 1, and losing 1, with two of those meetings coming from AFCON qualifiers.
Bosco has urged Coach Dupuis, the South Sudan National Team coach, to maintain the second-half line-up and speak to the players to avoid panic if the Bright Stars hope to secure their first-ever victory in the 2025 African Cup of Nations Group K qualifiers.
The team is set to face Uganda Cranes on Tuesday at Juba Stadium, followed by matches against Congo and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“The South Sudanese players have mastered Ugandan football very well this is seen from the trend of score lines they concede and the intensity of the game, can you imagine players locally selected can compete with an experienced Uganda Cranes is a positive move for South Sudan,” he added.
The South Sudan national team selected to face Uganda Cranes mostly comprises players from the East African region excluding Rashid Toha and other foreign-based players who were summoned but didn’t honour the invitation.
Recently there have been rumours that most of the foreign-based players refused to play against Uganda Cranes citing unpaid salaries and bounces but the claims of the payment incentives have since then been refuted by South Sudan Football governing body SSFA.
Bosco said that much as the issue of salaries and allowances would be crucial, Bright Stars players who shunned turned down the national call show have the love of their country at heart over salary payment.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Peter Orat, the Head Coach of Kator FC in Juab said throughout the game, the national team played very good football despite the challenges the team went through before departing for Uganda.
Orat said the Coach intended to collect a draw against Uganda Cranes unfortunately it didn’t work out however after conceding the goal he changed his tactics by introducing Atendele Mawa and David Majak.
“When he introduced the two players’ the tempo of the game changed, because we already had a formation of 3:1:3:2 this system killed Ugandan’s wingers and instead the Bright Stars were pressuring the opponent’s defenders had he (Coach Dupuis realized that the central midfield was weak, he would have made some changes and possibly, a 1; 1 or even a win for the Bright Stars was eminent because the football Uganda displaced South Sudan was unusual,” said Orat.
The Bright Stars have returned to Juba on Saturday and they will play Uganda Cranes in Juba Stadium tomorrow. South Sudan is yet to win a single game in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers.
A defeat for them will mean they are automatically out of the competition while a win for Uganda Cranes will secure them space with two more games to spare.