Friday 25th February
*Busoga United Vs BUL- Kakindu Stadium, Jinja
*Ateker Vs Maroons – Soroti Stadium
*Police Vs Gaddafi – MTN Omondi Stadium, Lugogo
*KCCA Vs Soltilo Bright Stars – MTN Omondi Stadium, Lugogo
Busoga United will be seeking for more than bragging rights when they welcome neighbors and rivals BUL FC in their Stanbic Uganda cup round of 32 tie.
The mouthwatering Jinja Derby will be played at Kakindu Stadium.
The hosts will be looking forward to at least better their last years performance when they got dumped out of the tournament at this very stage after a 5-1 loss on aggregate inflicted by eventual winners Vipers SC.
The revenge of 5-0 defeat against the same BUL in the league’s first round will be highly considered by the host as they continue looking forward to keep their second round impressive run at their new home in Kakindu.
Since shifting from Njeru to Kakindu Stadium at the end of league’s first round, the side has suffered one loss, inflicted by URA in their first game in new home.
They are coming into this one on the back of a memorable 1-0 win against UPL defending champions Express FC, and its going to be a good confidence booster when playing last year’s finalists.
“We at least want to go beyond this stage, We are well prepared for the game and we are looking forward to winning to maintain our good run home, what I can tell you the team is set for a win tomorrow,” Busoga United Captain, Anthony Mayanja stated.
Apart from Geoffrey Akol who will need a late assessment to the final squad, the team is free from injuries.
Loanee Henry Penza from Gadafi FC is likely to be handed their debut.
The hosts will also very much bank on their exciting heavy fan support witnessed in Kakindu stadium stands for last two games played there.
Unlike other teams left in the tournament, this is BUL’s first game in this year’s tournament after receiving a bye in the previous round following Bundimasoli United failure to honour its round of 64 fixture.
BUL will seek to replicate last year’s performance when they reached the final, despite a humbling 8-1 loss against Vipers in the final at Njeru.
Despite a comfortable win of 5-0 against Busoga united in the league in December last year, head coach Alex Isabirye expects a tough encounter because he believes a lot has changed since then, but nonetheless, he is confident of scooping another win.
“Since defeating them 5-0 in the league, Busoga United has improved so much, they already have two wins in second round, they defeated UPL defending champions Express FC whom we lost to, so its going to be a different difficult game,” said Isabirye.
“And there is no weak team in Uganda Cup, so we are going to handle Busoga as a big team, we know their morale is high but we are going to get the results we want because our target is to win game by game”
Jerome Kirya and Hillary Onek are the only absentees for Eastern Giants.
