It’s never easy to give credit to a loser, but still credit must be given where it’s due.

Whoever follows the national team, Amavubi or Rwandan football in general, needs to recognize the effort of both players and Coach Mckinstry.

Rwanda’s run in the 2016 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) finals on home soil was ended by neighbours and archrivals, the Democratic Republic of Congo at the quarter-final stage, which, in a way, wasn’t too much of a surprise.

But what is surprising, is the fact that some people are grumbling that the team could have gone further—everyone seems to have an opinion on why Amavubi lost to DR Congo, with many questioning the coach’s substitution choices.

We could go on and on to discuss McKinstry’s substitutions, and whether it was his major Achilles heel or not, but one thing we shouldn’t ignore is that, this team, was only good to go as far in this tournament.

To reach the semi-final or, even, the final would be punching way above its normal weight, and there is totally nothing wrong with that, but because the team could not match some people’s high expectations, there can only be one loser.

It would have been all merry and praises had McKinstry and his men overcome the DR Congo hurdle, and believe you me, some people would start comparing these young players to the legends of this nation, but now that the team is out, it has to be a different tune altogether.

Expectations

To quote neuroscientist Robb Rutledge, "Happiness depends not on how well things are going, but whether things are going better or worse than expected.” This makes me think about how expectations affect our lives, whether in sports or even in everyday life.

An expectation can be defined as the belief that something will happen based on a preconceived idea, and this is exactly what happened to some (fickle) Amavubi fans, especially after the team won their first two group matches against Ivory Coast and Gabon to book an early ticket to the last eight.

Then reality checked in with the 4-1 drabbing at the hands of Morocco in the final group match, which some would use to point an accusing finger at McKinstry, who made nine changes to the team that deservedly beat Gabon 2-1 in the previous game.

That result withstanding, Amavubi still topped the group hence an unwanted meeting with DRC, a team they just beat 1-0 in a friendly in the lead-up to the CHAN finals, so, maybe the players and most certainly a large section of fans were fooled to believe, a third straight win for Rwanda was a sure deal.

Setting high expectations isn’t a bad idea, and by setting high expectations, you are constantly motivating and pushing yourself to become better; however, if you set high expectations, but don’t reach your goals, you may feel disappointed.

Indeed, all Rwandans or anyone that wishes well for Amavaubi, is disappointed that the team couldn’t reach at least the semi-finals, even though, some, including top government officials, and even players thought, they would go all the way to the holy grail, which to me was total rash to even think about.

That said, it’s even more difficult to be disappointed if you maintain low expectations because you may never reach your full potential by setting low expectations.

For the fans, it’s very easy to blame whoever you want for the team’s loss, whether inevitable or not, but for the Mckinstry, it’s only him that knows what he is trying to do and achieve with the limited resources at his disposal.

This year’s CHAN tournament is proving to be as unpredictable as they come, with favourites like Nigeria and Tunisia falling early and that the semi-finals will be contested by teams that finished as runners-up in their respective groups.

As for Amavubi and Rwandans, the disappointment of not going beyond the quarter-finals (the first time in the country’s history at a senior tournament), might not take too long to get over, but rather it’s the manner and nature of opposition, they fell to, that may take a little bit longer to ingest.

The players and coach deserve credit, not for winning nothing, but for the effort and playing some neat football at times, which may not go unnoticed, given there are hundreds of scouts following the tourney, who may just have picked interest in one or two Amavubi players for a possible trial.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw