Rwanda’s Amavubi Stars have only one option as far progressing to the 2010 third and final qualifying round is concerned and that is to win away at Mauritania, according to a top Ferwafa official.

Amavubi next meets Mauritania when action returns on the weekend of September 5-7 in Nouakchott, on the same weekend Ethiopia hosts Morocco in Addis Ababa.

But in spite of Mauritania being at the bottom of group eight without a point from four matches, Ferwafa’s chief executive office Jules Kalisa acknowledges that nothing will be taken for granted.

"The game against Mauritania is a must win for us, if we beat them at their place, we won’t be affected by what happens in the game between Ethiopia and Morocco.

"But make no mistake, if we lose and Ethiopia wins, that will be a blow to our chances because they (Ethiopians) have scored more goals,” Kalisa acknowledged.

If the worse comes to the worst and Rwanda loses against Mauritania, a win for Ethiopia over Morocco in Addis Ababa will leave all three teams level on nine points going into the final qualifier when Rwanda hosts Ethiopia and Mauritania visit Morocco.

That’s why Kalisa thinks that Amavubi Stars need to beat Mauritania to be on the safe side regardless of what happens between Ethiopia and Morocco.

He however, noted, "But we shouldn’t fool ourselves that just because both Morocco and Ethiopia have gone there (to Nouakchott) and won, it isn’t a guarantee that it is going to be easy for us.”

"They (Mauritania) don’t have a single point up to this stage but if we go there and become complacent then we might be in for a big shock,” Kalisa warned.

Meanwhile, Kalisa admitted that this break was the best thing Amavubi players wanted after playing four matches in a space of one month, something that most players were not used to.

"In the return leg match against Morocco, you could see that they were playing on tired legs and I think it is the main reason for the defeat. They really needed this break to recover the lost energy,” Kalisa noted.

Rwanda has won three and lost one of their four qualifiers played, the same record as Morocco but the Atlas Lions have a better goal difference of six against Amavubi’s four.

Group 8
 
Team         PD   W    D    L    GF    GA    Pts
 
Morocco       4    3     0    1    10      4      9          Rwanda        4     3      0     1      8        4       9
Ethiopia        4    2     0    2     8       6      6
Mauritania     4    0     0    4     2     14      0

Ends