South Sudan U20 Open CECAFA Qualifiers With 4-0 Loss to Burundi

By Isaac Denish

South Sudan’s Under-20 men’s national team opened its CECAFA U20 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a 4-0 loss to Burundi on Tuesday at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Amini Nshimirimana and Sympathque Majidi each scored twice as Burundi secured three points in the Group C match.

Burundi controlled the game from the outset, taking advantage of defensive lapses to establish a commanding lead. South Sudan struggled to create clear scoring opportunities and could not find a way through Burundi’s defense in the second half.

The result leaves South Sudan needing a strong response in its next group match to keep its hopes of reaching the semifinals alive.

South Sudan coach Salyi Lokaku Samuel apologized to supporters after the defeat and said the technical staff would review the match to address defensive mistakes.

“Hard luck to us, and we are sorry for disappointing our country for not getting the results,” Lokaku said. “This is the game of football. There are always mistakes, and we learn from those mistakes.”

He added: “I think in the next game we will try to improve on those mistakes to be able to get the results that we wanted.”

The tournament’s three group winners and the best runner-up will advance to the semifinals. The two finalists will qualify for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations.

South Sudan will now turn its attention to its next Group C fixture as it seeks to recover from the opening-day defeat.