Don’t cry, we didn’t deserve to qualify!

Zambia was there for a beating but Rwanda could not seize the opportunity. The result ended Amavubi’s hopes of qualifying for CAN 2010 but most importantly, it should mark the end of Branko Tucak and some of the so called senior players as far representing the country is concerned. When many of us found out that Rwanda ‘only’ needed to beat Zambia by two unanswered goals to qualify for next year’s Africa Nations Cup in Angola in January, immediately our sentiments fooled us to believe the task was going to be plain-sailing, forgetting that we don’t have a team capable of doing that ‘simple’ job. As the Chipolopolo boys descended on Kigali there were many who thought that the Amavubi could quite easily go on and repeat the miracle of 2003 against Ghana. Rwanda needed to win that game by any score against the Black Stars at Amahoro, and they managed to do exactly that courtesy of Jimmy Gatete’s header, which sent the ‘underdogs’ to their first ever Nations Cup the following in Tunisia. Fast-forward, five years later, and depressingly talking to some fans who had enjoyed those old good days, yesterday’s game was one good opportunity for the team to defy odds and make it to Angola despite starting the day at the bottom of the group with just a point from five matches. I am neither celebrating nor happy that Amavubi failed not only to qualify for Angola but to win a single game in six qualifiers and scored just a single goal the entire campaign, it’s far from that. Yet the truth is, failing to qualify was the best wake-up call to those responsible for preparing the team. I hope for once they learn from this latest shame. Our society is full of the ‘I told you’ or ‘I knew this was coming’ type of people, and I don’t like the idea of falling into that category but in this particular case, I’d be the first to stand up and say, I knew this was coming. I have been consistent on this and my standpoint is not about to change. If Amavubi had qualified, it wouldn’t be because they’re good enough or deserved to but rather because Zambia were awful and too didn’t deserve to [qualify]. On the day, there was no visible difference between the two teams and they kept wasting chance whenever they got them and in the end, the slightly better team qualified, after all they had four points coming into the game against Rwanda’s one. After managing just one goal in 450 minutes of World Cup and Nations Cup qualifying football matches, getting two without conceding in 90 minutes was asking too much of Tucak’s team. Scoring goals has been the team’s biggest problem and nothing changed yesterday as the strikers kept losing possession whenever they got near Zambia’s 18-yard box. As for Zambia, they came with a game plan, which they stuck to throughout and it worked for them as the under pressure home team desperately ran out of ideas to the extent of seeing debutant Abbas Rassou playing in the wings instead of sticking him in the middle where he’s more effective. Now that Rwanda has failed to qualify for the 2010 CAN, the major task Tucak was handed when signing his lucrative contract, I’d assume that marks his end as the team coach [thank God sports Minister Joseph Habineza made it clear, the game against Zambia would be his last if Amavubi don’t qualify]. Yet, Tucak mustn’t be the only casualty of what has been a disastrous campaign; several so called senior players must also suffer the consequence as well. It’s time a fresh start, which means time to groom the younger players after all their senior brothers can’t offer anything more to the team other than being a big obstacle to the development of the young blood. It’s a shame that with all the big cash incentive that had been offered if they qualified, Amavubi players couldn’t stand up to the task even in-front of President Paul Kagame, who was among the desperate crowd. Contact: nku78@yahoo.com