National football team head coach Johnny Mckinstry says Amavubi’s target in the African Nations Championship is reaching the knock-out stages. The national side is in Group A, alongside Cote d’Ivore, Morocco and Gabon. 

In an interview with Times Sport, Mckinstry said Amavubi are in a tricky group which has teams that are better ranked but is adamant that it will not faze his youthful side which reached the final of the Cecafa Challenge Cup recently.

"Looking at the current FIFA rankings, all odds are against us, our opponents are way better ranked. We have exactly four weeks for final preparations, our major target now is to survive group stages, which is possible, and we will do everything we can to make that happen,” Mckinstry said.

The Irish coach added that, "reaching the knock-outs (quarter-finals) should be our minimum expectation but we can even do better than that. The mood in the team is buoyant, it’s a matter of balancing our physical, tactical and psychological strengths and go into the tournament confident with a positive mind,”

Amavubi will play two friendlies, against Tunisia and DRC, next month, which Mckinstry wants to use as a confidence booster and measure the team’s readiness for the elite competition.

Rwanda will open up their account in CHAN against Ivory Coast in the tournament’s opening match on January 16 at Amahoro stadium.

Mckinstry urges support

Meanwhile, Mckinstry is calling for an excellent atmosphere from fans around the Amavubi Stars to help the team excel in the competition.

"The team needs to be supported now like never before, CHAN is a huge competition with a lot of pressure, especially on players. All parties involved should show real support to the team before and during the tournament, it would help give the players a stronger mentality.”

"People (especially media) tend to compare my team with former generations, which doesn’t help at all. Let’s support our boys, help them up their confidence level and believe they can do it.”

Mckinstry also said that his performance since being named head coach is excellent.

"The team is not doing so bad like many think, we have a win rate of 50% in competitive matches this year, the best for Amavubi in the last ten years, friendly matches mean less to me. The low point we had was last month’s defeats to Libya.”

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