Sports

Friendlies
Today
Libya vs Rwanda 4pm
May 27
Tunisia vs Rwanda

TUNIS – Rwanda’s Amavubi Stars play their first friendly match against Libya this afternoon at Hammam Bourguiba stadium in Tunis, Tunisia.

The Libyan friendly match is part of the team’s preparations ahead of the 2014 Brazil World Cup qualifier against Algeria on June 2 in Algiers.

The Amavubi delegation arrived in Tunisia on Monday morning after a long trip from Kigali on Sunday. The team is staying at high altitude Hammam Bourguiba, near the Algerian border.

Rwanda, ranked 105th in the world, face a youthful Libyan side, which is currently enjoying its best ranking ever, 46th, in the FIFA Ranking.

“It will be a very tough match but we have come here to get a feel of North African football so as to go into the match against Algeria with the knowledge of what to expect,” Amavubi Stars head coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojovic noted.

The second friendly match will be played against Tunisia at Monastir stadium on May 27.

Libya have maintained the same team which participated at the 2012 Africa Nations’ Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea/Gabon in January.

Libya’s Coach Abdul-Hafeedh Arbeesh is expected to field the same squad which played a 2-all draw against Zambia on January 25 during the Africa Nations’ Cup.

Libya will start its campaign in Group I away to Togo, on June 1, before hosting Cameroon in Sfax, Tunisia, in closed stadium.

Tunisia hasn’t allowed fans at most games since the Arab Spring uprising there early last year and would again close off the Libya-Cameroon game.

Libya hasn’t been able to play at home since the start of the civil war that ended Moammar Gadhafi’s rule.

Contact email: bonnie.mugabe[at]newtimes.co.rw