Saturday

Côte d’Ivoire Vs Rwanda

AMAVUBI stand-in captain Jacques Tuyisenge has insisted that his side will be looking to end their appalling AFCON 2019 qualification campaign on a positive note when they face Côte d’Ivoire at Stade Bouaké on Saturday.

With two draws and three defeats, Rwanda are the only winless team in Group H of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers. They trail leaders Guinea by eight points, and lag behind third-placed Central African Republic (CAR) by three points.

The 2015 African champions Côte d’Ivoire are second with eight points.

"It’s unfortunate that we have failed to earn as many points as we wanted at the beginning, and there is no excuse for that. However, we still have the national pride to fight for, and every player on the team is up for the task,” said the former Police FC skipper.

"We want to create many goal opportunities and try to score from as many as possible,” he added before noting that, "We know we are facing a good side, but it’s possible to score goals against them.”

Côte d’Ivoire, two-time African champions, won the first-leg 2-1 at Kigali Stadium thanks to goals from Jonathan Kodjia and Max-Alain Gradel. Talisman Meddie Kagere netted the consolation goal for the hosts while making his first appearance in the national team since 2014.

Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire have already booked tickets to the AFCON 2019 finals tournament, which is due on June 21 – July 19 in Egypt.

The national team, Amavubi, who left the country for Ivory Coast Wednesday night, hold their final training session at Stade Bouaké on Friday afternoon.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com