Police FC held AS Kigali to a 2-2 in the second leg of the Peace Cup quarterfinals held at Kigali Pele Stadium on Wednesday to reach the semifinals with a 4-3 aggregate win over the Citizens across two legs. The cup holders will face APR FC in the semifinals after the latter knocked Gasogi United out of the competition with a 1-0 aggregate victory. AS Kigali started the game brightly as they made vital incursions into the Police FC half. They got their first corner of the game inside 10 minutes of the game. Haruna Niyonzima converted it and zoomed straight into the net with goalkeeper Patience Niyongira unable to save it as Police FC went 1-0 down early on. AS Kigali piled pressure on Police FC as they controlled the midfield with Niyonzima in the thick of affairs. Police came back into the game strongly as they exploited spaces left in the AS Kigali half. Djibrine Akuki found Christian Ishimwe with a superb ball and the overlapping left back hit a grounder. Goalkeeper Aime Cuzuzo spilled the ball for an unmarked Mandela Ashraf to bury the rebound in the 29th minute and even the scores to 1-1. Police FC stringed a couple of decent passes together, they switched the ball to the left in the 42nd minute for Didier Mugisha to deliver a fine cross but the ball was cleared by Saleh Ishimwe before Muhadjiri Hakizimana could connect. Muhadjiri was tormenting AS Kigali with his precise crosses as they failed to deal with it. He then found himself unmarked in the Citizens’ half as he whipped in a delightful cross for Akuki to head home and make it 2-1 for Police FC before the teams head into the dressing room for the half time break. ALSO READ: Peace-Cup: Onyeabor optimistic AS Kigali can eliminate Police FC AS Kigali looked more aggressive in the second half as they played a more robust style of football. Police FC, however, cooled the tempo down as they managed to force their opponents to play to their pattern. The first clear chance of the second half fell to Didier Mugisha who saw his effort inside the penalty box flashing across the phase of the post. Niyongira forced a superb save to deny Niyonzima the equalizer in the 57th minute after he had received a pass from Aime Ntirushwa and hit a curling effort outside the box. Police coach Vincent Mashami brought on Lague Byiringiro for Muhadjiri in the 65th minute as he sought to beef up his attack. Mugisha missed a glorious chance in the 67th minute as he just shot feebly into the waiting arms of goalkeeper Cuzuzo after Akuki set him a nice pass. Striker Elijah Ani replaced Mugisha in the 73rd minute as Police switched to a 4-3-3 formation. The burly striker was flanked by Chukwuma Odili on the left and Lague Byiringiro on the right. AS Kigali had a free kick at the edge of the penalty box, following a foul on Ntirushwa but the free kick from Saleh Ishimwe in the 80th minute hit the wall to Police FC’s relief. AS Kigali had a penalty in the 92nd minute after Issah Yakubu handled the ball. Jospin Nshimirimana stepped up and nicely converted to make the scores 2-2. The final 8 minutes of additional time saw Police FC defending gallantly as the game ended 2-2. Police FC thus qualified for the semifinals of the Peace Cup on 4-3 on aggregate. Meanwhile, in an evening kickoff, APR were held to a 0-0 draw by Gasogi United but the army club qualified for the semifinals on a 1-0 aggregate win. It was an exciting game though it failed to produce a goal. Both teams missed a good number of chances as the match ended in a goalless draw. APR will face defending Champions Police FC in the semi-finals of the competition.
