Captain Bakame tips Amavubi players to shine at CHAN 2018

Wednesday Algeria vs Rwanda Skipper, Eric ‘Bakame’ Ndayishimiye has urged Amavubi players to significantly up their game if they are to shine at the 2018 Africa Nation’s Championship (CHAN) finals tournament that will be held in Morocco from January 12 to February 4. Ndayishimiye admitted that they are working hard to achieve good results, “We need to give serious consideration to this competition because we can gain a lot from playing against bigger teams—the only way to get better in CHAN is by having better preparations.” This will be Rwanda’s third appearance (after 2011 and 2016) in Africa’s second biggest football tournament that gathers exclusively players featuring in their respective domestic leagues. “Reaching the final round was an important achievement for us, but we don’t want to sit here and assume that everything will be fine, we must continue to work hard so that we are better prepared,” Bakame added. The Rayon Sports captain noted that, “We have to forget what happened in past and look to the future, we have to believe that we can make history again by reaching the knockout round, but first thing is to make sure we get out of the group.” In 2016, Rwanda reached the quarter-finals under Johnny McKinstry before they were eliminated by DR Congo 2-1 in extra-time. DRC went on to win the title after overcoming Mali in the final. The 26-year-old shot-stopper made the admission on Friday, a day before Amavubi friendly against Sudan, the first of three warm-up matches that they are supposed to play in Tunisia before connecting to Morocco on January 12, for CHAN finals. Rwanda-Sudan friendly called off Meanwhile the friendly between Rwanda and Sudan on Saturday in Tunis, Tunisia was abandoned in the 40th minute when still goalless after a fight erupted between both sets of players. Both teams were using the game as part of preparations for CHAN. Tunisian referee Meher Harali ended the game prematurely following a fist fight between Amavubi and Sudan players. It all started with a bad tackle from behind by Sudanese midfielder Omar Nasser Eldein on Amavubi’s Djihad Bizimana. The referee called for a foul, but it wasn’t enough to stop Amavubi midfielder Yannick Mukunzi from taking the law in his own hands when he confronted Omar, whom he appeared to accuse of trying to injure him deliberately. However, hell broke loose after Harali reached for his pocket to give Omar a straight red card, that’s when Sudanese goalkeeper Elhadi led his teammates into a fist fight with Amavubi players hence forcing the game to go into chaos. The unprofessional acts from both sets of players forced the game to be abandoned. Amavubi returned to Sousse to continue their preparations. Antoine Hey’s team had another game against fellow CHAN finalist Nambia on Sunday. Hey said, “The referee had to stop the match after 40 minutes. It’s very unfortunate for us because we drove two hours from Sousse to Tunis specifically for this game.” “We had honored this game as a favor to our colleagues from Sudan but unfortunately some of their players just decided to disrespect fair play,” explained the Amavubi tactician. On Monday, Amavubi will have two training sessions and one session on Tuesday at El Mouradi training facility before moving to Tunis on Wednesday for the final warm-up match against Algeria. Amavubi will depart for Tanger via Casablanca for the finals competition. Rwanda will slug it out against Libya, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea in Group C that will be based in Tangier. editorial@newtimes.co.rw