Masudi tips Rayon after crucial semi-final win

Monday Third place playoffAS Kigali vs Espoir FC 1:30pm FinalRayon Sports vs APR FC 3:30pm Following a 3-2 win over AS Kigali in the semi-final on Friday, Rayon Sports interim head coach Djuma Masudi believes his team can go on to win the Peace Cup final against archrivals APR FC on Monday ay Amahoro National Stadium. Rayon Sports, seeking a first Peace Cup triumph in ten years sealed their place in the final with a 4-3 aggregate win, while record eight-time winners, APR, reached the final after overcoming Espoir FC 1-0 in the other semi-final. APR’s midfielder Janvier Benedata netted lone goal in the 90th minute. Masudi, who was the captain when Rayon last win the knockout competition back in 2005, will be looking win his first trophy as coach since he was put in charge in late February. “Today every player played his part to achieve this win, so we are happy to win the game and qualify for the final; our desire is to go and win the title,” the former Burundi international said in the post-match interview on Friday. He noted that, “We have to look forward for the game against APR with optimism, we only have two days to prepare, therefore we need to use that period well enough because we’re quite aware of the task we have at hand.” In the semi-final, Burundi forward Pierrot Kwizera scored twice and Malian, Ismailia Diarra netted another goal for the Blues while forwards; Hamidou Ndayisaba and Justin Mico scored for AS Kigali. AS Kigali head coach Eric Nshimiyimana said his players did all to win the game but it was only bad lucky that they didn’t win. The former APR player said, “We missed a lot of chances to score more goals, but we will take that and look forward to win the game against Espoir FC (in the third place playoff).” The winner will represent Rwanda at next year’s CAF Orange Confederation Cup, however; in case APR, who are the front-runners in the race for the league title, also win the Peace Cup, then the team that finished in second place, will play in Africa’s second biggest club competition. editorial@newtimes.co.rw