Amavubi lose to Burkina Faso, eye win over Tunisia U23

SundayRwanda vs Tunisia U23 - 16:30 FridayRwanda 0-1 Burkina Faso After losing 1-0 against Burkina Faso on Friday, Rwanda next faces Tunisia’s Olympic team on Sunday at Maamoura training centre in Rabat, Morocco, kick off at 16:30. Yacouba Songne scored the only goal of the match on the 75th minute as Burkina Faso CHAN 2016 team overcame Johnny McKinstry’s men in the first two friendly matches the team is scheduled to play during a 10-day training camp in the north African country. Despite losing to West African side, Amavubi head coach McKinstry said he was pleased with the team’s overall performance. “We lost the game against Burkina Faso which we dominated but we’ll take positives from this defeat and try to do better on Sunday against Tunisia,” he said. The Northern Irishman added that, “Obviously, it’s not the result that we wanted but we should learn from it. The players were great especially in the first half.” “The football that we played was really top notch, bringing it out from the back and creating many passes and moving the ball around, it was the best football that we have played since I arrived,” the 30-year old tactician noted. The former Sierra Leone coach noted that the one thing that was missing from his team’s performance was the delivery into the penalty box, something he says he wants to correct against Tunisia U23 side. “Overall we are pleased with the performance but we need to make sure that when we are dominating, we should turn that into goals,” added McKinstry. Amavubi started the game with high intensity forcing Burkina Faso to play in their own half for longer periods of the game with striker Isaie Songa being the main culprit as he failed to score many of the attempts created in the first half. Midfielder Djihad Bizimana and Jean Claude Iranzi had their best chances saved by Burkina Faso goalie Baillou Mohamed as Amavubi hunted for first half goals. Burkina Faso had the first chance of the match from Emmanuel Gora with Eric Ndayishimiye there to clear the danger to keep the scores on goalless draw going into recess. McKinstry then beefed up his midfield with Rodrigue Murengezi replacing Hegman Ngomirakiza and Michel Ndahinduka for Songa. In desperate search of the equalizer, Mohamed Mushimiyimana and Innocent Habyarimana entered the fray with 18 minutes to go, replacing Iranzi and Djihad Bizimana but failed to impress. The game featured domestic-based players on both sides as Rwanda and Burkina Faso prepared for the 2016 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN), which will be staged in Rwanda from January 16 through February 7. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Amavubi lose to Burkina Faso, eye win over Tunisia U23