Rayon Sports coach cautions players ahead of Musanze FC tie

SaturdayRayon Sports vs Musanze 3:30SC Kiyovu vs SunrisePepiniere FC vs AS KigaliMarines vs Kirehe FC Rayon Sports head coach Djuma Masudi has cautioned his players to be more cautious when they take on Musanze FC on match-day 10 of the national football league at Kigali Regional Stadium today at 3:30pm. Djuma Masudi’s side will be aiming to win and stay at the top of the table. “We have reached a very delicate phase where every game has to be handled carefully; our focus is not only on Musanze but the remaining six games in the first round,” Masudi told Saturday Sport. The former Rayon Sports captain added that, “The players are aware of the situation we are in and know that we will need to try and collect maximum points between now and end of the first round, if we’re to keep alive our hopes for the title challenge.” Rayon Sports has been in the driving seat since day one but pressure began to pile on them last week after stumbling to a 1-1 draw away to Mukura. The draw gave an opportunity to defending champions APR to go joint top with Rayon after their 1-0 win over SC Kiyovu. Masudi will not have his Malian striker Moussa Camara, who picked an injury during the encounter with Mukura. He will rely on Burundian duo of Pierrot Kwizera and Shassir Nahimana who have scored a combined 11 goals so far this season. Last season’s Player of the Year, Kwizera has scored five goals while new signing Nahimana has netted six times and both will be hoping to add to their tally against Musanze FC, who are in 11th place with 11 points after nine rounds of matches. Musanze FC, under former Rayon Sport assistant coach Sosthene Habimana, are fresh from a 1-0 win over struggling Marines, and will be aiming to become the first team to beat Rayon Sports, who have won seven and drawn two games. In other matches today, Aloys Kanamugire’s SC Kiyovu in the 10th place will be looking to bounce back from last week’s defeat to APR when they host seventh-placed Sunrise FC at Mumena Stadium. Fifth-ranked AS Kigali will be vying to continue the chase for top spots when they take on bottom side Pepiniere at Kicukiro stadium. Marines in the 14th place host Kirehe FC (9th) at Umuganda stadium. editorial@newtimes.co.rw