Amavubi’s Mikels to miss Benin, South Africa qualifiers through back injury

Sabah winger Joy-Lance Mickels will miss Rwanda’s upcoming World Cup 2026 qualifying matches against Benin and South Africa after sustaining a serious back injury late in club’s 2-0 away win against Karvan Yevlakh in the Azerbaijan Premier League on Sunday, October 5. The 31-year-old, who had opened the scoring from the spot, suffered an injury on his back after colliding with Karvan Yevlakh's goalkeeper in the 90+11th minute of stoppage time and was unable to get back to his feet. He initially received medical treatment on the pitch and was later taken to a local clinic by club ambulance. He currently leads the scoring charts in the Azerbaijan league with four goals, a performance which convinced Rwanda FA to hand him a debut call up in Amavubi. His injury came when he was about to travel to Kigali to join Amavubi squad preparing for World Cup qualifiers against Benin on October 10 and South Africa on October 14. It is a big blow for Adel Amrouche who was hoping to count him as Rwanda pushes for a historic World Cup qualification.

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Amavubi’s Mikels to miss Benin, South Africa qualifiers through back injury