Quarter-final 

Yesterday, Al NuggaExpress 0-2 APR Al Ahly Shandy 1-1 El Merreikh (El Merreikh won 3-2 on penalties)

Semi-final, FridayAPR vs El Merreikh 

AL FASHER -- Three-time winners APR powered into the last four of the Cecafa Kagame Cup Championships after a 2-0 win over former Uganda Super League champions Express yesterday at Al Nugga stadium.

Midfielder Jean Baptiste Mugiraneza and substitute Nova Bayama scored the goals to book a place in the money-spilling round for the army side.

Mugiraneza headed home Bayama’s freekick in the 70th minute to beat Express goalie Fanco Oringa for the opening goal and four minutes to the end, before Man of the Match, Bayama made it 2-0 to seal the win over Sam Ssimbwa’s team.

Andrew Buteera picked up Emery Bayisenge’s pass at the halfway line, dribbled past Juuko, connected to Maxime Sekamana who eliminated Henry Katongole before threading through a neat pass for Bayama, who dumped the ball into the far corner.

Express FC, who dominated for large parts, could have killed off the game but poor finishing from Charles Sembanda, Musa Mukasa and Eric Ssebuguzi led to their downfall.

Willy Kavuma, Hassan Wasswa, Musa Mukasa, Ismail Kazibwe and Rogers Lukwiya denied APR breathing space in the midfield until coach Andreas Spier brought on Bayama, Heritier Turatsinze and Yannick Mukunzi for Jean Claude Iranzi, Hegman Ngoma and Isaie Isonga and the move paid off.

The German tactician later lauded the performance of his team and attributed the win to good coordination, determination and hard work, while his counterpart, Sam Ssimbwa, who will be in charge of Police FC next season, blamed his defenders for gifting APR with the two goals.

APR will face El Merreikh Al Fasher in the semi-final on Friday after the home side came back from a goal down to equalise on 88th minute through substitute Mubarak Ishaq, cancelling out Eltayeb Nadir’s 62nd minute opener. 

The winner was decided on penalties and El Merreikh, who finished third in Group A which also had APR, won 3-2.