The national football team coach Vincent Mashami has turned focus to the Group E 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifying campaign which starts in June.

Mashami declared that the team’s focus will now be on the upcoming World Cup qualifiers where Uganda faces Mali and Kenya, in the qualifiers that are set to begin in mid-2021. Mashami’s target is to finish on top of the table.

"We will shift our focus to the Fifa 2022 World Cup qualifiers in June. Regarding the World Cup qualifiers, we cannot rely on Fifa rankings; Mali are a good side, same with Uganda and we all know Kenya are coming up well,” Mashami said.

Rwanda and Mali were pooled in Group E of the qualifiers alongside East African sides Uganda Cranes and Kenya. Rwanda will start their campaign against Mali on either June 5 or 6.

"All our opponents are good teams but our aim will be to finish top of the table, and looking at our team, the players are hungry for success and that will play a massive role in helping us perform better,” Mashami noted

The second match for the Amavubi will be a home tie against Kenya on either the 12 or 13 of the same month. Rwanda will host Uganda in the first leg in September. Only the winner of the group will be guaranteed a place in the final phase of the qualifiers.

The return legs will start when Rwanda travels to Kampala in late September before hosting Mali in October. Amavubi will wind up the campaign against Harambee Stars.

Amavubi reached the group stages after edging out Seychelles 10-0 on aggregate in the preliminary round last October.