Commonwealth preparations on

The National soccer team, Amavubi Stars is due to start intensive training ahead of the inaugural Commonwealth Challenge Cup, the country’s soccer governing body, Ferwafa has confirmed.

Thursday, July 26, 2007
BY BONNIE MUGABEThe National soccer team, Amavubi Stars is due to start intensive training ahead of the inaugural Commonwealth Challenge Cup, the country’s soccer governing body, Ferwafa has confirmed.The tournament will be staged in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania from June 29-July 15.Ferwafa vice president, Veduste Kayiranga revealed to TimeSport that the Amavubi Stars’ team fresh from continental engagements will start preparations next week ahead of the tournament in a fortnight."The soccer federation is planning to start an intensified training for the national team and that will be probably early next week because their rest is about to climax,” Kayiranga said.The two-week-long tournament is expected to attract all Africa countries with the Commonwealth status including Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda among others.The tournament comes only two weeks after the Amavubi Stars’ loss to Cameroon in third last fixture of the Nations Cup Ghana 2008 qualifiers.Ferwafa has described the tournament as a good opportunity for the junior players to get the much needed international exposure.Kayiranga added that, "This tournament will be a good chance for the young players because it is a big tournament, fully sponsored, that is why the national team may be composed of young talents,” Ferwafa doesn’t expect to call professional players for the tournament after the Amavubi Stars 1-2 loss to Cameroon game in Garoua last weekend which ended Rwanda’s chances of participating in the next year’s African Nations Cup finals in Ghana. The Commonwealth Challenge cup tourney will act as a preparation championship for the Amavubi Stars ahead of their Nations Cup qualifier against Liberia on September 7-9 which will be played in Kigali.