Amavubi in final warm-up match

International friendlyToday Rwanda           vs     Chad    5pm

Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Labama Bokota, one of the most experinced strikers for Amavubi has struggled for goals since returning to the team last year. The New Times/File.

International friendlyToday Rwanda           vs     Chad    5pmSOUSSE – Amavubi Stars play their third and final warm-up match against Chad this afternoon at Club El Kantaoui, three days before their meeting with Algeria’s Desert Foxes in the first round of the 2014 Brazil World Cup.Having lost the last two international matches against Libya (2-0) and Tunisia (5-1), Amavubi will be gunning for a morale boosting victory ahead of a hectic month of June in which the team will play three international competitive matches.Coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojovic is expected to field two different sides this afternoon as a way of helping him pick his final squad for Saturday’s match.Chad, who also lost their friendly match against Libya (1-0) on Sunday, will be using the game to prepare their team for the 2013 Africa Nations Cup qualifying campaign. The Central African country has already been knocked out of the World Cup qualifying campaign by Tanzania in the preliminary round. Chad is ranked 115th in the world and 32nd in Africa. It will be the first meeting between the two teams.Amavubi have been handed a huge boast by the news that defensive duo of Emery Bayisenge (ankle) and Eric Gasana (knee) are recovering in time for the Algeria game. The duo trained with the rest of the squad on Monday and there was no recurrence to their injuries.Rwanda is pooled in Group H for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers alongside Algeria, Benin and Mali. After the away fixture against Algeria on June 2, Rwanda will host Benin in Kigali six days later. Seven days later, Amavubi will head to Abuja for the return leg qualifying fixture against Nigeria for the 2013 Cup of Nations tournament in South Africa. A win or a scoring draw would see Rwanda through to the final round of the qualifiers. The first leg in Kigali ended goalless.Amavubi’s problem has been the lack of enough goals in the team and the strikers will be on pressure to start getting them as soon as possible, starting with today’s game.