Midfield whiz kid Haruna Niyonzima is convinced that APR has the ability to reach far in this year’s Confederation Cup. Niyonzima, who scored the winner in the weekend’s Confederation Cup preliminary round return leg match against Kenyan sided Gor Mahia, said APR can only get better. “We have been improving in every game we’ve played this season. We didn’t play well as we expected against Gor Mahia but at least managed to get the win. “They (Gor Mahia) didn’t want to concede many goals as they did in the first leg (in Nairobi) thus filled the defense,” noted the Rwanda U-20 captain. Niyonzima, 20, added that they will take Egypt’s El Hadood with full respect and determination and believes that he and teammates will do everything possible to progress even further but first, they would have to do well in the first leg at home. The skilled midfielder, already an influential figure in the country’s senior team with the Amavubi Stars, hit a 90th minute thunderbolt to oust Gor Mahia. Gor Mahia strikers never threatened APR goalie Aime Ndizeye for the whole 90 minutes thus allowing the home team room to dominate proceedings. Skipper Mbuyu Twite, Labama Bokota and Ndjoli Bokungu were wasteful in front of Gor Mahia goal. The Kenyan cup winners had their goalie to thank for his excellent saves as his side was looking to overturn the 5-0 deficit from the first leg. With a convincing 6-0 goals aggregate, APR advanced to the first round proper with a date against Haras El Hadood next on the card. Haras El Hadood got a bye to the first round. Meanwhile, Hamza Nkuutu adds that, leading 5-0 from the first leg, home fans expected and indeed hoped that Rene Feller’s outfit would simply walk onto the pitch and give the Kenyans a thorough beating, call it a footballing lesson, sorry it wasn’t the case. Gor Mahia did exactly what they had to do, defended in numbers, played with one man up front, tight-marked in the midfield (others call it man-to-man marking), and their game plan almost paid off until….pop… Niyonzima, goal, time check, 90+3, final score APR 1-0 Gor Mahia. For 90 minutes, the home side created as many chances as they did in the first leg in Nairobi, the difference, in Nairobi they scored 5-0, in Kigali they could only win 1-0 in the last minute of added time. Gor Mahia, with their game-plan, did not manage a single attempt on the APR goal; Ndizeye would be the first to admit he had probably the quietest game of his career. Apart from the back passes he enjoyed with his centre backs Ismail Nshutinamagara and Mbuyu, the Burundian international goalie, never had a save to make the entire game. But with Egyptian opposition next on the menu, Feller, his players and the club faithful should expect a totally different challenge which calls for the players to double or even triple their effort if APR is to enjoy continental football as far as this season is concerned. Ends
