Uganda’s wait for a return to the Africa Cup of Nations is over. The Cranes needed just a point from their match against South Africa in Namboole on Friday to confirm their qualification for the CAN 2025 final in Morocco.

But they didn’t have to wait that long as Congo lost 3-2 to South Sudan in Juba on Thursday night to ensure Uganda and South Africa qualified before even touching down. ball.

With 10 and eight points respectively and two matches remaining, Uganda and South Africa cannot be caught by Congo, who, along with South Sudan, have only one match to play.

Congo has four points and South Sudan three.

The match to be played on Thursday in Juba came as a surprise since Caf had informed member associations in October that the remaining two rounds would be played at the same time in groups.

In the same vein, Uganda, who had played their first two home matches at 7 p.m., were forced to move their match against South Africa to 4 p.m.

“As Fufa, we wanted to keep the kick-off time we had in previous matches, but Caf decided that we should play at the same time with the other teams in the group (South Sudan and Congo) to avoid union problems.” Fufa Exco member Rogers Byamukama told the FA website on October 24.

Later on Thursday, Byamukama confirmed that “even we at Fufa were surprised to learn at the start of the week that the match against South Sudan had changed the date.”

“We asked for clarification and were only told on Tuesday that the match would actually take place on Thursday, contrary to what had been previously announced.”

A week earlier, South Sudan announced on their X account that the match would take place on Thursday.

With the Cranes now returning to the Afcon after missing the last two editions, Uganda can now play to finish top of the table.

That will certainly be the aim of the Cranes’ Belgian coach Paul Put as they take on South Africa in Namboole.

The first meeting in Johannesburg ended 2-2 and the Cranes have never beaten South Africa in the six meetings between the two.

The last time the two faced each other in Namboole, a Benni McCarthy penalty won the match 1-0 in 2004 (2006 World Cup qualifiers).

In Namboole, Put is not expected to make any significant changes to the teams that negotiated the previous two matches against South Sudan.

Goalkeeper Ismail Watenga, full-backs Kenneth Ssemakula and Abdu Aziz Kayondo, as well as central defenders Halid Lwaliwa and Bevis Mugabe are expected to continue in their roles.

Skipper Khalid Aucho is expected to continue in the middle of the park, with Taddeo Lwanga and either Travis Mutyaba or Allan Okello completing the midfield trident.

Omedi, who scored in the 2-1 away win over South Sudan, and Mato are set to trouble the South Africans, with Steven Mukwala likely to return to the starting line-up.

South Africa captain Ronwen Williams will lead his side after missing the first leg through injury, but Johannesburg’s goalscorer – the injured Lyle Foster – will not feature.

Oswin Appollis, Elias Mokwana and Mbatha are the players Uganda will keep an eye on.

Uganda concludes their campaign against Congo on November 19 while South Africa completes their home qualifier against South Sudan on the same day.