AFCON fixtures

March 23-26

Mauritius vs Rwanda

March 26-29

Rwanda vs Mauritius

June 3-5

Rwanda vs Mozambique

Sep. 2-4

Ghana vs Rwanda

After their elimination from the 2016 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) in the quarter-finals, Amavubi stars have turned focus to the upcoming 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers doubleheader against Mauritius.

Amavubi travel to Mauritius on the weekend of March 23-26 before both teams meet again four days later in Kigali. Johhny McKinstry’s team will also host Mozambique on the weekend of June 3-5 before winding their qualifying campaign away to Ghana on September 2-4.

Rwanda is in Group H, and they beat Mozambique 1-0 in the opening match on June 14, 2015 away in Maputo before losing against Ghana 1-0 in Kigali.

Ghana lead the group with six points, three ahead of second-placed Rwanda, and Mauritius, who lie in third place on goal difference while Mozambique are without a point.

Hosts Rwanda were knocked out of the ongoing CHAN tournament by DR Congo on Saturday to miss out on what would have been a historic place in the semi-finals of Africa’s second biggest international competition, which is reserved for only players featuring in the respective national championships.

Amavubi skipper, Jacques Tuyisenge said after the disappointing defeat against DR Congo deep into extra time, that they will take the positives from the tournament and look forward the next fixtures of AFCON qualifiers with high optimism.

The last time Rwanda qualified for the AFCON was in 2004 in Tunisia—then, they were drawn against Ghana and Uganda in the qualifiers, and they came out on top after two crucial wins against Cranes (1-0) in Kampala and against the Black Stars in Kigali by the same score.

The Black Stars defeated Amavubi 4-2 in Accra but fell to a 1-0 defeat in Kigali courtesy of striker Jimmy Gatete’s 49th minute header.

Eventually, Rwanda finished top of Group 13 with seven points, two ahead of Uganda in second place while Ghana was last with four points.

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Group H

Team             PD    W    D    L    Pts    GD

Ghana            2       2     0     0   6        7Rwanda          2       1     0     1   3        0Mauritius         2       1     0     1   3       -5Mozambique    2       0     0     2   0       -2

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