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Dominique Savio Nshuti will lead the hunt for a win when Rwanda U-20 national team face off with Uganda in the CAF U20 Championship qualifiers first leg today at Kigali Regional Stadium. The return leg will be played on April 23 in Kampala.

The 19-year-old joined the Junior Wasps on Wednesday after helping the senior team to a 5-0 win against Mauritius in a 2017 Africa Nations’ Cup qualifier on Tuesday. He scored the opening goal.

Under the guidance of head coach Jean Baptiste Kayiranga and his assistant Vincent Mashami, the Junior Wasps have been in residential training camp since last week.

"The boys have been doing well in training and I believe they have the capability of doing a good job against Uganda. The Ugandans are very physical but we are ready for the challenge. It will be tough because we did not have enough time to prepare; nonetheless we will be looking for a good result,” Kayiranga said.

The former Rayon Sports coach added, "Our mission is to win this game and I believe we have a good team to win the game.”

Rwanda will be relying on Rayon Sports youngsters Savio Nshuti, Kevin Muhire, and Jabel Imanishimwe, who have been outstanding for the national league table leaders.

Kayiranga will also be hoping for impressive performances from the likes of Marines FC striker Blaise Itangishaka and the Kiyovu pair of goalkeeper Bonheur Hategekimana and forward Yamini Salum.

This is the second time in a space of a year that the two archrivals will meet in youth qualifiers after they faced off last year in the Africa Under-23 Championship qualifiers with Uganda winning 4-1 on aggregate.

Uganda’s Hippos arrived in Rwanda on Friday morning ahead of the first leg clash. The visitors are staying at Impala Hotel, in the heart of Kigali City.

A total of 24 countries are involved in the preliminary round with the winners set to face off against the 16 countries that got a bye to the second round.

Teams that already progressed include; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Libya, Mali, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.

The first leg of the second round will be played on the weekend of May 20-22 with the return leg set for June 10-12.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw