BETWEEN now and November 15 when they head to Tunisia for a three-weeks training camp, Rwanda’s U-17 coach Richard Tardy wants to keep the team occupied which explains why the youngsters are flying out to Congo Brazzaville this Sunday.

The team will play a couple of trial matches against their Congo Brazzaville counterparts during the course of next week as part of their preparation for next year’s Africa Youth Championship to be held in Kigali and Rubavu.

"The reason we centered on Congo Brazzaville is because they have a very strong team so playing them will help us gauge ourselves ahead of the CAN finals,” Ferwafa’s Chief Executive Officer Jules Kalisa explained.

Congo Brazzaville is on the verge of sealing her slot at next year’s competition after a very commendable performance against three-time world U-17 champions Nigeria.

The Central Africans picked four points in the two-legged contest after a 2-0 home win and a goalless draw in Kaduna.

Congo now needs to eject Gabon in the second and final qualifying round on November 6. Gabon reached the second round after eliminating Algeria.

From Congo Brazzaville, the team will fly back to Kigali before proceeding to Tunisia. During the three-week camp, the team will play several friendly games with some of Tunisia’s top youth sides including Tunisia’s U-17 national side.

Tardy believes experience drawn from the just concluded Cecafa U-20 youth championships in Eritrea will come in handy for the youngsters.

In Eritrea, the team managed a fourth place finish after losing 1-0 in a third place play-off against Kenya.

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