Haruna, Nirisarike for Cranes friendly

Only two professional players including skipper Haruna Niyonzima and defender Salomon Nirisarike will be summoned to the Amavubi Stars squad for the Fifa international friendly against Uganda Cranes scheduled for November 15 at the Mandela national stadium, Kampala.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Only two professional players including skipper Haruna Niyonzima and defender Salomon Nirisarike will be summoned to the Amavubi Stars squad for the Fifa international friendly against Uganda Cranes scheduled for November 15 at the Mandela national stadium, Kampala.According to the Rwanda national team manager Alfred Ngarambe, to call Young Africans midfielder Niyonzima and Belgium-based centre back Nirisarike, who plays for second division side Royal Antweerp is a coach's decision.Coach Eric Nshimiyimana wants to use more home-based players as he prepares his team for the forthcoming Cecafa Challenge Cup due in Kenya from November 27 to December 12 as well as  the 2016 CHAN, which will be staged in Rwanda.The friendly match against Cranes was confirmed by the Federation of Uganda Football Association (Fufa) after it had earlier been postponed due to logistics issues.In the first friendly match played in Kigali in February between the two sides, the Cranes and Rwanda's Amavubi settled for a 2-2 draw.Uganda Cranes are now coached by Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic, the man who was at the helm at Amavubi Stars during the last friendly in Kigali.The game, according to Fufa spokesperson Rogers Mulindwa, is to help the Cranes prepare for the Cecafa and Chan 2014 tournaments.Mulindwa said the game will give Micho a chance to try out players featuring in the domestic league, who will form the bulk of the squad for the upcoming tournaments.Micho was in charge of the Amavubi Stars between 2011 and April 2013 when he was sacked by the Rwandan federation over poor results.