Pressure mounts on Rwanda´s Amavubi

After calling only two professional players last week followed by a two all draw with a local side, pressure is brewing for Rwanda’s national side Amavubi and their coach Sellas Tetteh before the 2012 Orange CAF African Cup of Nations qualifiers kick-off. Amavubi who face Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in their first group game drew with Police, who exposed a lot of defensive issues and team cohesion problems for Tetteh.

Center back Ismail Nshutinamagara opened the scoring when he put the ball in his own net. Left back Donatien Tuyisenge then compounded Amavubi’s woes with a clumsy challenge on Clementine Mukunzi inside the penalty box. Hamis Kitagenda made no mistake as he sent Amavubi goalkeeper Jean Luc Ndayishimiye “ Bakame” the wrong way.

Tetteh’s consolation was that the team managed to hit the back of the net after a long barren run. Bienfait Kabanda scored the opener with a powerful header while Albert Nyumbayire equalised five minutes from time after pouncing on a cross from Jean Claude Iranzi.

“I’m sure you have all heard about the story of David and Goliath. Of course we (Rwanda) are underdogs but strange things happen in football. “What is important is to go into the game well prepared, focused and confident. It’s important also to get as much support from our fans as we can. The first game of any qualifying campaign is always tricky but we are set to play our hearts out,” said Tetteh.