The national football team’s journey at the 2020 African Nations Championships (CHAN) came to an end on Sunday, January 31, after they were beaten by Guinea 1-0 in a dramatic game at Stade de Limbe, Cameroon.
The elimination of head coach Vincent Mashami’s side drew mixed reactions from Rwandans as the majority called for the football authorities to revise the national team’s performance toward better results in future tournaments, including the upcoming qualifiers of the 2021 African Cup of Nations which resume in March.
Football charisma
Although Rwanda was knocked out of the tournament, Jimmy Mulisa, a former player and coach of the national team, praised the performance and fighting spirit shown by the players in Cameroon, saying that Mashami’s boys deserved more than a quarter final.
The former APR coach admits that Rwandans had been disappointed for quite a long time but the national team’s performance in Cameroon finally gave them a reason to smile again and believes better results will come if football authorities show commitment in improving the game in all aspects.
"The national team was at least able to bring back hope among Rwandans. There is something positive about their performance and I think this should be something that football authorities should build upon, start something new that can bring results that can keep Rwandans happy,” said Mulisa.
"Everybody was excited and curious to know every update from Amavubi in Cameroon because the character they showed during the group stages made Rwandans to believe that the team deserved more. We can build from that, find areas to improve and make the best out of the potential that Rwandan footballers have so that we can perform much better,” he added.
The ‘wrong’ sendoff that eliminated Rwanda
Mulisa’s comments were complimented by Shadia Umuratwa, a football fan, who said the team gave their all to make Rwandans happy but blamed their elimination on Moroccan referee Samir Guezzaz who she said made a wrong decision to send goalkeeper Olivier Kwizera off after a challenge on a Guinean attacker.
"I have nothing but only compliments on our players. They did their best to make us happy but the referee couldn’t allow them. To be honest, I was surprised by their performance because I thought they could just go there to participate. We could have got more from them but they made us believe that we can smile again,” Umuratwa said in an interview.
Amavubi deserved more than last eight
David Bayingana, a local Sports journalist wasn’t impressed by Rwanda’s performance at the CHAN2020, insisting that that the national team’s players had a lot to offer in Cameroon considering that it was among the teams with most experienced squads at the tournament.
"You can’t say that we deserved to be knocked out of the last eight because that wasn’t our first time making it into the quarter finals. The least we could have done is reach the semis. We should be playing the semi-finals and the finals of this tournament. To me, I can rate their performance at 40 per cent,” claimed Bayingana.
While people had little hope for Rwanda to even go past the group stages, Bayingana insists that Rwanda had an advantage over their opponents because the majority of the players selected are experienced who have played several continental competitions.
About the way forward, he said, is to evaluate the progress the national team has made in the past years.
"For instance, a big number of our players aren’t supposed to be playing this tournament twice, we should instead be seeing many of them impressing and catching the attention of foreign clubs. That’s how it should be,” he argued.