Malian to handle Amavubi-Eritrea tie

THE first leg of the 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifier between Rwanda and Eritrea will be handled by Mali’s centre referee Mahamadou Keita.He will be assisted by Diarra Balla and Ibrahim Sambou while Ousmane Sidibe will assume the fourth official duties. Abdulkareem Abdulhamid Radwan of Egypt has also been named as the match commissioner. The match will be held on November 11 in Asmara before a return leg on November 15. Amavubi need to win to claim the final slot in Group F which also has Algeria, Mali and Benin. The top team from each of the 10 groups will qualify for the final play-off, and will play on home and away basis to determine the five slots. In all, 154 matches will be played between November 2011 and November 2013. The wasps which regroup this Sunday will negotiate the two matches with Eric Nshimiyimana in charge. Following Amavubi’s shock 1-0 away win over Benin in the final 2012 Africa Nations Cup qualifier, the Sports Minister Protais Mitali confirmed that they would stick with the former APR and Amavubi midfielder for the preliminary round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. “It’s important that there is some bit of continuity after the Benin victory so Nshimiyimana will carry on temporarily,” the minister said at the time. “It is also fair to reward Nshimiyimana because he did a good job in Benin. He has built some confidence in the team and normally, it takes time for this to happen.” Ends