Caf U-23 Championship Qualifier (Today)

Somalia vs Rwanda

Amavubi U-23 will be hoping to overcome Somalia in the return leg of the Caf U-23 Championship qualifier this afternoon at the El-Hadj Hassan Gouled Stadium in the city of Djibouti.

With a two-goal advantage, the national side needs just a draw to qualify for the second round but head Coach Johnny McKinstry is not taking anything for granted.

"It is still a thin score line because if our opponents get an early goal, it changes the entire picture for the game.

So for us, we need to go there and be intent and focussed on getting the first goal.

If we can get the first goal and take it to 3-0 overall, I think we can go on to really control and dominate the game hopefully but we can expect the first 20 minutes of the game to be quite intense.”

Captain Emery Bayisenge echoed McKinstry’s expectations "We want to win and qualify to the next round. We have a good team with quality players and with the good training we’ve had all week, I think we shall meet our objective,” Bayisenge said.

The winner of this tie will qualify for the second round of qualification where they will meet Uganda and the side that emerges victorious will meet Egypt in the last round of qualification for the quadrennial CAF U-23 Championship scheduled for December 5-19 in Senegal that will attract eight teams. The top three sides at this continental event will qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Probable starting XI: Olivier Kwizera, Michel Rusheshangoga, Emery Bayisenge (C), Faustin Usengimana, Janvier Mutijima, Yannick Mukunzi, Djihad Bizimana, Bonfils Kabanda, Justin Mico, Jean Marie Muvandimwe, Bertrand Iradukunda.