Group B Tuesday results Gicumbi 1-0 Rugende FC La Jeunesse 1-2 Nyanza Friday fixtures Gicumbi v La Jeunesse Nyanza v Pepiniere Gicumbi FC president John Urayeneza has said that his side has a squad capable of ending the group stages without losing a single game as the club looks to bounce from last season’s relegation disappointment and make a quick return to the top flight league that kicks off in October. Gicumbi have won each of their last two group games, including 2-1 away win against Nyanza and a 1-0 win against Rugende on Tuesday, and the club is determined to extend their unbeaten run when they host La Jeunesse on Friday, September 24. The club is now targeting a return to the top flight league a year after football governing body (Ferwafa) decided to relegate them to the second division, alongside Heroes FC, after the league was canceled after just 23 match days due to the coronavirus. The two clubs threatened to report Ferwafa to FIFA if the decision is not overturned but Ferwafa insisted that they must be relegated. Speaking to Times Sport, Urayeneza described the decision as ‘unfair’ on one hand but a wakeup call, on the other hand, for his team to rebuild before the second division resumed. “We were so disappointed when the federation decided to relegate our team, a decision that we felt was totally unfair because it was not clear at all. It was hard to take and so many players were forced to move elsewhere because they were at the time not eligible to play in the second division either because of their age or because they were not of Rwandan origin,” Urayeneza recalls, in an interview. After a mass exodus of its players to other clubs, the club management signed new players and appointed Rafiki Nshimiyimana as their new head coach to help them build a new team which can challenge for a promotion to the premier league. Gicumbi now have a young squad which has been performing well in the past two games although they have not spent enough time training together, the only challenge that the coach is currently trying to fix. “We had to think of how we could bounce back and we started building a new team from scratch. We brought in new players and a new coach who is doing a good job to build a team which is now fighting for only a top flight promotion. We won our last two opening games and we want to keep our winning run when we meet La Jeunesse on Friday,” he said. Gicumbi FC now sit top of the table with six points three ahead of Rugende and Nyanza who follow in second and third positions while La Jeunesse and Pepiniere are bottom of the table as they haven’t picked a single point yet.
