VINCENT Mashami, the national team head coach, has summoned 27 players to face Tanzania in an international friendly match on Monday. The game will start at 6pm, at Kigali Stadium. Of the 27 players called up yesterday, only two are foreign-based with the rest featuring for different clubs in Rwanda Premier League. Medie Kagere will join the team’s camp from Tanzania champions Simba SC, while Jacques Tuyisenge flies in from his new Angolan side Atletico de Luanda. The game will be key for Mashami as he tries to assemble a strong squad to face Ethiopia for a ticket to the 2020 African Nations Championships (CHAN) finals tournament next week. Rwanda will go into the game with a slight advantage after winning the two sides’ first-leg 1-0 away in Ethiopia last month. CHAN is strictly designed for players who feature in their respective domestic leagues. Mashami’s men will host the Walias of Ethiopia at Kigali Stadium on October 19, with a draw enough to see Rwanda qualify to the CHAN for a third successive time – and fourth overall. Should the hosts win Monday’s friendly tie, it will be Mashami’s unprecedented fifth victory in as many games since his appointment as interim coach in August. Only last month, Amavubi beat Seychelles twice in the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers and DR Congo in an international friendly game, in Kinshasa, before stinging Ethiopia. The Tanzanian delegation composed of 38 members arrived in the country in two batches on Thursday night and early Friday, and will hold a couple of training sessions this weekend. Rwanda beat Tanzania 2-1 the last time the two countries met in December 2017 during that year’s Cecafa Senior Challenge. Full 27-player squad: Goalkeepers: Eric Ndayishimiye (AS Kigali), Yves Kimenyi (Rayon) and Umar Rwabugiri (APR) Defenders: Ange Mutsinzi (APR), Latif Bishira (AS Kigali), Thierry Manzi (APR) Fitina Ombolenga (APR), Emmanuel Imanishimwe (APR), Eric Rutanga (Rayon), Aimable Nsabimana (Police), Eric Iradukunda (Rayon) and Herve Rugwiro (Rayon) Midfielders: Rashid Kalisa (AS Kigali), Eric Nsabimana (AS Kigali), Amran Nshimiyimana (Rayon), Olivier Niyonzima (APR), Haruna Niyonzima (AS Kigali), Jean Claude Iranzi (Rayon) and Djabel Manishimwe (APR) Forwards: Osee Iyabivuze (Police), Lague Byiringiro (APR), Dominique Savio Nshuti (Police), Justin Mico (Police), Ernest Sugira (APR), Jimmy Mashingilwa Kibengo (Bugesera), Medie Kagere (Simba SC, Tanzania), and Jacques Tuyisenge (Atletico de Luanda, Angola). editor@newtimesrwanda.com
