Rwanda’s race for a ticket to the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Côte d’Ivoire could suffer a huge blow after Benin filed a complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) that Kevin Muhire was used during the pair’s 1-1 draw in Kigali while he had picked up two yellow cards in his last two qualifiers. Benin are pursuing a case with CAF that could change the result that could go in their favor and on the other hand see Rwanda get slapped a 3-0 forfeit. In a post-match press conference, Benin head coach Jernot Rohr told members of the press that the Beninese FA had already filed an appeal to CAF arguing that Muhire was ineligible to play on Wednesday because he “had accumulated two yellow cards against Senegal and Benin in the first leg.” Article 42.1 of the ‘Regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations concerning sanctions of players indicates that, for the qualifying phase and the final tournament, a player who receives two cautions shall be automatically suspended from playing the following match. This automatic suspension shall be communicated by the Secretariat to the Associations concerned. However, Rwanda remains confident that Benin’s appeal won’t be taken into account since a report that referees filed to CAF after the first leg match in Cotonou indicated that Muhire was not booked. Before fielding Muhire, Rwanda FA had consulted CAF on possible suspensions and realized that the referee only reported that Gilbert Mugisha was booked and Hakim Sahabo was sent off after he was show two yellow cards. “Maybe the referee realized that booking Muhire was not the right call and possibly rescinded the yellow card he showed him,” said Amavubi team manager Jackson Rutayisire. Rwanda now sit in the third place with three points, a point behind Mozambique who remain second despite losing 1-0 at home to Senegal on Tuesday. Benin are bottom of the table with two points. A win in Maputo earned Senegal a qualification to the AFCON finals in Cote d’Ivoire after collecting all 12 points from four victories in a possible four. Despite a draw against Benin, Amavubi still stand a chance of booking a ticket to Cote d’Ivoire should they win their last two games. They will host Mozambique on June 16 before they conclude their qualifying campaign with Senegal on September 8. Both fixtures will be held in Rwanda.
