Trio fail to impress in APR trials

Henry Sittou Ndoumbia and Landry Djimbi who feature for Congo Brazzaville’s Diable Noir and Primael Maissa from Gabon’s Tele Stars have failed trials at APR. The trio had been brought in to boost the army-side ahead of this year’s Caf Confederation Cup set for January 30-February 2.

Monday, January 26, 2009
Not impressed: APR Coach Rene Feller.

Henry Sittou Ndoumbia and Landry Djimbi who feature for Congo Brazzaville’s Diable Noir and Primael Maissa from Gabon’s Tele Stars have failed trials at APR.

The trio had been brought in to boost the army-side ahead of this year’s Caf Confederation Cup set for January 30-February 2.

APR Secretary General Aime Kayinamura told Times Sport yesterday that the trio is not any better than their current crop of players.

"They are on the same footballing level like our players and there is no need to recruit them,”

"We will only be interested in players whose levels exceed our own local players,” Kayinamura added.

The record nine-time national league champions will represent Rwanda in the Caf Confederations Cup where they face Kenya’s Gor Mahia in the preliminary round.

The military side has also been boosted by the return of their influential players, Haruna Niyonzima, Jean Baptista Mugiraneza, Hegman Ngoma and Arafat Serugendo ahead of their journey o Nairobi set for this Thursday.

The quartet has been part of the Rwanda U-20 squad that was ejected from the African Youth Championship and has reportedly been summoned by APR coach Rene Feller.

Jean Claude Iranzi, Elias Uzamukunda and Ernest Kwizera have however been left out.

The winner between APR and Gor Mahia will face Egyptian side Haras El Hodoud who got a bye into the first round. Gor Mahia is the only Kenyan club to win an African continental title.

The Kenyans won the defunct Cup Winners Cup in 1987. Their last appearance on the continental scene came in 1996 when they were knocked out in the first round.

Ends