Losing start for Amavubi

Yesterday Algeria 4 - 0 Rwanda Senegal 3 - 1 Liberia Gambia 1 - 1 Morocco Ivory Coast 2 - 0 Tanzania Sierra Leone 2 - 1 Cape Verde

Sunday, June 03, 2012
Following yesterdayu2019s loss, it means Amavubi have never won on North African soil. The New Times/File.

YesterdayAlgeria 4 - 0 RwandaSenegal 3 - 1 LiberiaGambia 1 - 1 MoroccoIvory Coast 2 - 0 TanzaniaSierra Leone 2 - 1 Cape VerdeTunisia 3 - 1 Eq. GuineaSudan 2 - 0 ZambiaBurkina Faso 0 - 0 CongoKenya 0 - 0 MalawiTodaySouth Africa vs EthiopiaNiger vs GabonNigeria vs NamibiaZimbabwe vs GuineaTogo vs LibyaAngola vs UgandaFOR Amavubi Stars it doesn’t rain but pours as Algeria recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory in the opening group H match of the 2014 Fifa World Cup played last on Saturday night in Blida.Striker Sofiane Feghouli opened the scoring before El Arabi Soudani netted twice - either side of a strike from substitute Islam Slimani.In the build-up to the game, Amavubi team were obviously short of confidence after they lost two and drew one of three warm-up matches, all played in Tunisia while Algeria were full of confidence.Feghouli scored the opener after 27 minutes in Blida. It was his second international goal in as many games. The Desert Foxes doubled their lead through Soudani, who netted a super header just after the half hour mark.Amavubi coach Milutin Micho promised to play an attacking game as he was seeking to become the first coach to get a win for Rwanda in North Africa but his team let him down with a disappointing performance.With the score still at 2-0, Meddie Kagere has Amavubi’s best chance to get a goal back but his tame shot was well saved by the big frame of Algeria’s goalkeeper.Slimani ensures that Rwanda’s winless streak against North African opposition away from him continues when, after coming off the bench, netted the Desert Foxes’ third goal, which all but deflated the visitors.Amavubi defenders were all over the place with eight minutes left on the clock when Soudani grabs his second of the match and his team’s third, and it’s now a question of whether the home side are content with a four-goal advantage - or hungry for more.Olivier Karekezi and indeed the attacking line was disappointing and the captain was withdrawn midway the second period and was replaced by Labama Bokota, who did little in terms of threatening the opposition goal.Algeria contested the last World Cup in South Africa two years ago but failed to build on that appearance as they missed out on this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.Today, Benin host Mali in Cotonou.Elsewhere, Kenya’s bid to reach a first World Cup got off to a poor start when being held to a goalless draw by Malawi in Nairobi and barely a week after taking charge, new Ivory Coast Sabri Lamouchi led his new side to a 2-0 win over Tanzania in Abidjan.Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba and Solomon Kalou were in target the Elephants.And African champions Zambia suffered defeat in their first competitive match since winning this year’s Nations Cup, going down 2-0 to Sudan.