Djibouti confirmed their early trip back home when they conceded nine goals against Rwanda on Thursday at the ongoing Cecafa senior Challenge Cup in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The result was the second routing for the side that was hit 7-0 by Uganda in their previous match. They seemed to pick themselves up against Eritrea losing 2-3 in their second match. In total, they conceded 18 goals and scored only two.

Djibouti have never won a Cecafa match in recent history and they are always the first team along with their neighbors Somalia to be eliminated from the regional championship over the years.

Uganda, Rwanda and Eritrea have confirmed their surge into the quarter finals from Group B.

The Uganda Cranes are favorites to top this group while the Amavubi Stars are assured of a quarterfinal date against Zanzibar or Sudan.

Josip Kuze’s team won two (2-1 over Eritrea and 9-0 over Djibouti) and lost 2-0 against rivals Uganda. Tanzania, Burundi and Kenya qualify from group A.

On Thursday, Rwanda went into the hunt early but they could not find their break until the 17th minute when Swede-based Olivier Karekezi sliced the ball past Abdulrahman Yusuf in goal for Djibouti to open the flood gates.

Kamana Bogota scored the first of his hat trick in the 22nd minute as it became obvious that the underdogs were in surely in for serious trouble and he added the third, his second on the day in the 37th minute.

The Amavubi Stars continued with business in the 47th minute when another Rayon Sport striker, this time Roger Tuyisenge found the net from a pass off teammate Olivier Uwingabire.

Elias Uzamukunda got his share with the sixth goal after 54 minutes before his APR teammate Hegman Ngoma found the net for the seventh goal in the 62nd minute.

Bogota scored the eighth in the 76th before Karekezi rounded up the evening with the ninth with six minutes left on the clock.

However, Rwanda’s clean sheet is highly attributed to the fine form of Jean Claude Ndoli who made two top-drawer saves in quick succession, in the 33rd minute and against 35th.

The APR custodian has been a lucky chap every time he takes to the field for club and country but sources that attended the match on Thursday tell us that he had probably his best day between the posts in a long time.

The quarterfinals are scheduled to start on Monday when the winner of group A takes on the third from group B and the second in group C up against the second in group A.

On Tuesday, the top team from Rwanda’s group B will tussle out with the team that finishes third from group C as the winner of group C takes on the second in group B.

The first semifinal pit together the winner of the first quarterfinal and the second on Wednesday while the second semifinal will between the winner of quarterfinal three and four with the final on Saturday, December 22 at the National stadium of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam.

This year’s tournament is sponsored by GTV with the eventual champions walking away with $30.000 and the first and second runner ups taking $20.000 and $10.000 respectively.

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