October 19 Rwanda Vs Ethiopia NATIONAL football team coach, Vincent Mashami, is confident Amavubi will not waste their first-leg advantage when they host Ethiopia on Saturday in the decisive clash for a ticket to the African Nations Champions (CHAN) next year. Rwanda go into the game with a 1-0 lead from last month’s first-leg, in Ethiopia. Unbeaten in their last five matches, in all competitions, a draw will be enough for Rwanda to book a ticket to the CHAN finals tournament for a third successive time – and fourth overall – after six editions of Africa’s second-biggest football tournament. Amavubi were held to a goalless draw by Tanzania in a friendly match on Monday night, ending the team’s longest winning streak – of four matches – since 2011. Ahead of Saturday’s do-or-die affair against the Walias of Ethiopia, Mashami has admitted that “it is going to be a highly charged game” but backed his players to put up a strong performance and get ‘the result that every Rwandan expects’ on home soil. “The friendly game against Tanzania was a good test. Now we know where to exert more force in training,” Mashami told reporters in a post-match interview. Since the inception of CHAN in 2009, Rwanda has only missed the inaugural edition and the 2014 tournament, making its debut in 2011 before hosting the 2016 showpiece and qualifying for the 5th edition, hosted and won by Morocco, last year. However, the country’s best performance in the tournament only remains reaching the quarter-finals in 2016. Amavubi bowed out from the group stage at the 2011 and 2018 editions. Mashami added: “I believe we have the necessary quality and talent. And, I also think I don’t need to remind my players of how much the game (against Ethiopia) means to us as a team and as a country.” “The target is not to hold on to the first-leg lead, but rather to fight for another victory.” editor@newtimesrwanda.com
