Tardy agrees new deal

JUNIOR Wasps coach Richard Tardy has agreed a new two-year contract; the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Culture (Minispoc) Jean Pierre Karabaranga has confirmed. The new deal is set to expire in March, 2013.Tardy, whose current contract with the U-17 side was due to expire at the end of this month, will sign a new deal in the coming days. Karabaranga yesterday said, “We have reached an agreement with Tardy about a new two-year contract and we hope to finalise everything within the next few days.” Besides going into Rwanda’s history books as the first coach to guide a national football team to a Fifa World Cup, the 54-year-old also attracted plaudits for the style in which his side played during the 2011 U-17 Africa Nations Championship. Despite marching into the tournament as one of the under-dogs, the junior wasps raised eyebrows by beating Burkina Faso and Egypt to become the first African team to qualify for the 2011 Fifa U-17 World Cup in Mexico. After beating Ivory Coast in the semi-final, the youngsters’ fairy tale run was finally halted in the final after a 2-1 defeat against Burkina Faso. Tardy targets World Cup quarter-finalsIn Tuesday’s press conference, Tardy said that the team’s goal in Mexico will be to reach the last eight. “Our target is to reach the quarter-finals and then see what happens after that,” the soft spoken tactician said.Congo Brazzaville, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast are Africa’s other representatives in the global showpiece which will run from June 18-July 10. The team regroups this Friday at Ferwafa grounds and will play a series of build-up games against Europe’s elite sides (France, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal) before heading to North America. Ends