March 23

Group H

Ghana vs Mozambique

March 25

Mauritius vs Rwanda

Rwanda national football team head coach, Johnny McKinstry is optimistic that Amavubi will build on the recent form to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals tournament in Gabon.

Amavubi have won seven, drawn four and lost only one of the last 12 matches, played between November 2015 and January 2016 in all competitions, including CECAFA Kagame Cup, international friendly matches and African Nations Championship (CHAN).

Making their second appearance in CHAN finals last month after debuting in 2011 in Sudan, McKinstry’s Amavubi defied odds to make it out of group stages from Pool A that also included Ivory Coast, Gabon and Morocco, only to be eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual champions, DR Congo.

The 30-year-old McKinstry acknowledged the rough route ahead but noted that Rwanda stands a good chance of qualifying for Africa’s biggest football tournament once again, following a historic debut in 2004 in Tunisia.

"Rwanda stands a better chance to qualify for AFCON today than ever before, it will be hard to go through as table leaders (from Group H) but it is very possible as best first runners-up.

Everyone involved understands the enormity of the work ahead, we will give it a strong fight to get the result we all want,” McKinstry told Times Sport in an exclusive interview.

He added, "If we get three wins out of four remaining group games, we will have a total of 12 points, enough to see us through to AFCON finals in Gabon. History in the last 30 years shows no team has ever managed to earn 12 points from group stages and fail to qualify for the finals.”

"Basically, home and away victories against Mauritius and a win against Mozambique in Rwanda is what we are targeting. Dropping points in any of those three matches will greatly reduce our chances,” he explained.

He further revealed that he is happy with the team’s current form, but he will keep taking in local league matches to further assess his players, and plans to travel to Tanzania and Kenya to watch the likes of Haruna Niyonzima (Yanga) and Jean Baptiste Mugiraneza (Azam FC) as well as Gor Mahia’s Abouba Sibomana and Jacques Tuyisenge.

Amavubi’s next qualifier is away in Mauritius on March 25, before hosting the same team in Kigali on March 29 before entertaining Mozambique in June. Amavubi will wind up the qualification campaign away to Ghana in September.

Rwanda stands second in Group H with 3 points from two games having won 1-0 away to Mozambique and lost 1-0 at home against Ghana.

Group H

Team            PD     W     D     L     GD       Pts

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

editorial@newtimes.co.rw