AYC Qualifier, Saturday

Mali vs. RwandaBELGIUM club Antwerp has finally released defender Salomon Nirisarike to play for the junior wasps against Mali in the return leg of the Africa Youth Championship qualifier due on Saturday.Nirisarike’s release was made possible after Rwanda Football Federation, Ferwafa, made a last minute intervention with their Belgium counterparts to have the player feature for the junior wasps as stipulated by Fifa regulations.According to Ferwafa Secretary General Michel Gasingwa, an initial request which was done requesting the player was not respected thus denying the player a chance to join his teammates in Kigali last Sunday.This forced the local federation to demand reasons why the defender was not released from the Belgian football federation and after discussions, Antweerp agreed to release the player who joined the team in Bamako last night.Nirisarike’s presence will help head coach Richard Tardy line up a strong defence as he seeks to reach the final qualification round of the Africa youth championship.Rwanda takes a slight advantage in the return leg following a 2-1 victory in the first leg which was played over eight days ago.The winner between Rwanda and Mali will play either Lesotho or Zambia in the third and final qualifying round later this year. Algeria will host 2013 AYC and will be joined by seven qualified teams.The 2013 African Youth Championship will be hosted by Algeria.