PUCHACU

Junior wasps’ assistant coach Aloys Kanamugire has admitted that lack of prowess on the striking front has cost Rwanda a place in the last 16 of the Fifa U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

The veteran coach, while reacting to Rwanda’s early exit from the World Cup, said, "We need to start producing natural goal scorers. Scoring goals has been our big problem over the years, but need to do something about it.”

"Our country has good footballers but finding consistent strikers has been a challenge not only at this [youth] level but even with the senior team.

"If only we had utilized our chances, we would still be in this tournament,” noted the veteran of Rwandan football, who is credited for being of the father figures at the centre of the national football run by Ferwafa.

"This has been our first World Cup competition, and despite the early exit, we are going home happy because it has been a very good experience for everyone involved from top to bottom.

"From here, we go back and continue the journey. It doesn’t stop here. The search for other new talents should be our next focus and I believe we can do better in the next competition”, Kanamugire stated.

Kanamugire, who was widely expected to retire from the game after the World Cup in Mexico refuted reports saying, "I have not [yet] decided to retire but if I’m to make a decision, it will depend entirely on family and not football related.

Win to progress

After losing the first two matches against England (0-2) and Uruguay (1-0), Rwanda needed to beat Canada by any score in their final group C match, but they could only managed a goalless draw and through the window went their chances of reaching the next stage.

Andrew Buteera, Justin Mico, Farouk Ruhinda and Eric Nsabimana were the main culprits each one of them either missed or wasted more than one good scoring opportunities.

Debutants Rwanda needed a win of any sort to reach the knock out stage of the Fifa U17 competition.

Meanwhile, African champions Burkina Faso, also head for home at the first hurdle without a point or a goal to show for their efforts.

Burkinabe, who beat Rwanda in the final of the African title early this year in Kigali, lost 2-0 to on Sunday. With the win, Ecuador booked their passage to the round of 16.

Ends