Rayon Sports to battle Chad’s Electric FC

Today Group BPorts vs Express - 3pmElectric Sport vs Rayon - 5pm Group CURA vs Al Ahly Shandy - 3pm Yesterday Group AAPR 1-0 Elman GUEST SIDE Rayon Sports go into the unknown when they face Electric Sport from Chad in the opening match of Group B of the 2013 Cecafa Kagame Club Championship at Al Fasher stadium, North Darfur, Sudan today. French coach Didier Gomez da Rosa said yesterday that winning the opening match will be crucial as the Blues bid to reach the quarter-finals. Rayon Sports, who won the 2012/13 Primus National Football League title, were invited as a guest team after Tanzanian clubs Yanga and Simba SC pulled out citing security concerns in Darfur and South Kordofan. “We have to win our group matches so as to reach the next round. Despite having minor concerns like fatigue with my players, we are determined to go as far as we possibly can in this tournament,” the Frenchman told Times Sport from Darfur. Gomez will start his maiden Kagame Cup quest without his team captain Aphrodis Hategikimana and defender Faustin Usegimana, who were all left in Kigali with knee and back injuries respectively. However, Usengimana, as well as midfielder Amissi Cedric and Leandre Sekamana flew to Sudan on Wednesday to join the rest of the squad and could be part of the team for Saturday’s second game against Ugandan champions Express FC. They will wind up the group stage campaign next Monday against Ports of Djibouti. Rayon were the first Rwandan side to win the title away from home in 1998 under Coach Raoul Shungu before Atraco repeated it in 2009 in Khartoum, Sudan. A win for Rayon will boost their chances of reaching the last eight where they could set up a titanic clash with archrivals APR FC, who pulled off a narrow 1-0 win over Somali side Elman on Wednesday. Hegman Ngoma scored the only goal of the game for the three-time champions, who were lucky to escape with maximum points after Elman squandered a last minute penalty following Ismail Nshutiyamagara’s needless challenge in the forbidden area. In Kadougli, Uganda Revenue Authority, who registered their first win of the tournament over Al Hilal Kadougli on Tuesday, take on Al Ahly Shandy in Group C.