Rayon out of CAF Champions League

Two goals from Wayne Arendse Sebusiso Vilakazi were enough to hand South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns a ticket to the group stage of CAF Champions League. It was the end of the road for Rwanda champions Rayon Sports in Africa’s biggest club football competition. Subsequently, Rayon Sports join teams to tussle it out in CAF Confederation Cup play-offs, slated for April. A torrential rain before kick-off left large puddles of water on the pitch and, made passing football almost impossible, particularly in the first-half. Uruguayan forward Gaston Sirino had an excellent chance to open the scoring for the hosts when he had a snap-shot inside the six-yard box, but did not find a clean connection and skewed his effort wide. Percy Tau then curled a shot from outside the box just wide before his side finally found the net on 34 minutes when his corner was volleyed home by Arendse. Tau then had an opportunity to extend the home side’s advantage before the break, but with just the keeper to beat, saw his effort deflected wide. He was again denied early on in the second period when he connected with Tebogo Langerman’s cross six yards out, but goalkeeper Eric Ndayishimiye denied him from point-blank range. Ten minutes into the second-half, a strong strike from 30 yards from Gaston Sirino cannoned back off the crossbar and Vilakazi had the simplest header from the rebound. But, despite having been overpowered by ‘The Brazilians’ for most of the game, Rayon created a couple of goal opportunities of their own – through Francois Mugisha, Pierrot Kwizera, Hussein Tchabalala and Christ Mbondi but none was successfully converted. Rayon Sports forward Caleb Bimenyimana received a straight red card in injury-time for a foul The first-leg had ended 0-0. Ivan Minneart’s Rayon exit from the CAF Champions League a day after domestic rivals APR were eliminated in CAF Confederation Cup by Malian side Djoliba AC after a 2-2 aggregate score. The Malian side progressed to the play-off round, thanks to an away goal advantage. editorial@newtimes.co.rw