FOR the full 90 minutes, plus the 3 additional minutes of stoppage time, Amavubi Stars had only two shots on target and none good enough to threaten Cote d’voire goalkeeper Boubacary Barry.

The home team’s first attempt on target didn’t arrive not until the 53rd minute, a speculatively overambitious shot by debutant youngster Charles Tibingana from well over 35 yards.

There is no way you can beat a keeper of Barry’s quality and experience from that sort of range, but at least it showed how confident the U-17 winger is, not fearing the occasion and not to mention the caliber of the opposition.

Lest we forget, it was a team ranked top on the continent against a team placed 36 places below them and an immeasurable gulf between the two teams—player per player, the two sets of players can’t be measured on the same scale.

Whereas Rwanda had three players; Haruna Niyonzima (captain) and Patrick Mafisango, who both play for Tanzania’s Yanga Africans as well as Labama Bokota (Motema Pembe) playing semi-professional football, the entire Cote d’voire squad play for European clubs, some for the top, top clubs in Europe.

Four players in their starting team play in the English Premier League; Solomon Kalou (Chelsea), Yao Kouassi Gervinho (Arsenal), Yaya Toure (Man City) and Cheick Tiote (Newcastle United).

Their stand-in captain in the absence of Didier Drogba, Didier Zokora plays for Trazbonspor in Turkey but has lots of Premier League experience with Tottenham as well as Seville in Spain. Goalkeeper Barry features for Belgium first division side Lokeren. They even had Kolo Toure (Man City) on the bench.

Negative tactics

For a team playing at home, fans expect an attacking game but when Sellas Tetteh lined up him team with five players in the midfield, a lone striker and four at the back, you couldn’t see where goals where going to come from.

And it proved to be case as lone striker Bokota tried but couldn’t do much on his own since there was no link between midfield and attack—Tetteh’s tactics were so negative that most of the time, Amavubi had nine players behind the ball.

The captain Niyonzima, who was supposed to play in an advanced role, just off Bokota’s shoulders didn’t do anything constructive until he was replaced by another youngster Andrew Buteera on the 72nd minute.

The Ghanaian coach played without a recognized left back, instead opting to employ Jean Claude Iranzi, a winger to play there while Mafisango and U-17 team captain Emery Bayisenge were employed as defensive midfielders.

And because Iranzi is not a natural defender, it meant that he needed support time and again to be able to contain Gervinho or Kalou, which Jacque Tuyisenge a natural striker but who was deployed on the left wing provided hence curtailing his offence ability.

Woeful afternoon

Bayisenge did his bit perfectly although his passing a lot to be desired just like the entire midfield, him and Mafisango rarely crossed the centre line, while Niyonzima had one his worst games in Amavubi colors.

Tibingana (one cross the entire afternoon) had a game he wouldn’t want to remember, so were Ismail Nshutinamagara and Albert Ngabo but again so is the whole nation, not forgetting Tetteh and his staff.

Rwanda came into the game playing for nothing but pride while Cote d’voire had already qualified for next year’s Nations Cup in Gabon and E.Guinea but needed to make a statement of intent ahead of the tournament, and indeed at full time, their rivals on the continent must have developed goose bumps.

The draw between Burundi and Benin leaves the pair level on five points, two better than Rwanda however, that result plays very well in the hands of Amavubi, who can still finish the campaign above bottom place if it can win away to Benin in the last qualifier next month, which could be Tetteh’s last game in charge.

Writer’s verdict: Amavubi not good enough. Sacking the coach won’t solve the problem.

Amavubi players’ rating out of 10

Ndayishimiye 5
Ngabo 4
Iranzi 4
Sibomana 6
Nshutinamagara 3
Mafisango 5
Bayisenge 5
Tibingana 3
Niyonzima 5
Bokota 7
Tuyisenge 4

Subs
Mao Kalisa 2
Buteera 2
Tuyizere 2

Ends