When I continue to see and hear how Standard Liege’s Mohammed Meme Tchite is being begged to play for Rwanda, I feel saddened and wonder why can’t such efforts be put in nurturing our own home-made strikers. There is an upcoming striker called Jacques Cyubahiro who plays for Isonga, a newly drafted team into the Primus National Fooball league. Cyubahiro caught my attention on Wednesday this week during a league match between Primus league champions APR and Isonga. Cyubahiro 18, is a former striker with second division club SEC academy and he scored the only goal for Isonga as they lost to APR 1-2 at Amahoro stadium. Prior to joining SEC, he was picked from APAER school located in Kabuga, Gasabo District. Cyubahiro has characteristics of a typical striker. In the conventional sense, Cyubahiro is a striker who stays in the box and scores the goals with the passes coming in from all sides. He is ideally not tall but has a medium height, he is robust, aware of the players around him, and he is an average header of the ball, has good control of the ball. When talking of a complete striker, who is fast and has a quick reaction in-front of the goal, then we should not look beyond the young Isonga FC forward, who has been dubbed as ‘Rooney’ by his local fans. His ability to challenge senior and full Rwandan international defenders like Mbuyu Twite left me wondering why we can’t nurture so well this row talent instead of wasting tax payers’ money to run after a player somewhere in Europe, who has seem not interested in playing for Rwanda. His great ability lies in being able to sit in the box and pick up the good passes and score the goals. On Wednesday, Cyubahiro kept APR defenders Mbuyu, Ngabo Albert and Donatien Tuyisenge on their toes throughout the game and scored a brilliant goal from Francois Hakizimana’s cross. His positioning and clinical finishing past veteran goalie Ramazan Nkunzingoma is what you could expect from a promising 19-year old. For the entire game, Cyubahiro kept APR’s defenders on their toes, a feat which forced APR coach Ernie Brandts to replace Tuyisenge with Ismail Nshutiyamagara after the latter picked a yellow card and was on the verge of earning himself a red card considering the ruthless fouls he committed on the youngster, who tormented the former SC Kiyovu with excellent dribbles. Why should the country waste the little resources it has practically begging Meme, who appear worn out and struggling to even convince Saudi Arabian club Al Shabab to sign him. Meme, 27 years has been contacted since 2008 to play for Rwanda. But his heart, mind and soul belongs to somewhere else in Belgium. To him, it’s either Belgium or nothing. Despite his African roots, Tchité announced his desire to play for Belgium once he obtained his citizenship having played for Standard Liège for over two years. He officially became a Belgian citizen on July 11, 2008. Belgium national team coach René Vandereycken called him for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, but FIFA intervened and ruled the player ineligible because he had previously represented Burundi at senior level in the Cecafa in 2000. He also appeared for Burundi at Under-20 level, and having changed international allegiances to Rwanda when he moved to Mukura Victory Sports in 2002, even though he never played for the Rwanda, which meant Tchite remained eligible for the latter, according to FIFA regulations. Now at 27, why do we still need Meme? The striker struggles with injuries after every two matches in Belgium league, do we really need this kind of player. Isonga composed of players who played at last year’s Fifa U-17 World Cup in Mexico has continued to prove to everyone that they are they next generation of footballers that will qualify Rwanda to any Nations Cup final as well as World Cup. Let’s put the trust and resources into this team and give a chance to players like Cyubahiro to prove themselves that they’re up to the task of banging in the goals for their country. To me, memories of Jimmy Gatete lie in this budding striker Cyubahiro who believes in giving respect to his opponents and fulfills the coach’s instructions upfront. bonnie.mugabe@newtimes.co.rw
