There’s this expression: ‘The heart sinks’ which Rayon Sports fans not for the first time, understand what that really felt like, heart plunging to stomach, making you feel ill. Dreadful, literally. So there you go. Life and death. And football. We’re all the same when it comes to our clubs, tied for much deeper reasons that anything as fleeting as a player or a set of results?People live and breathe, and then they die, some too early. But that’s just what happens. It is inevitable. Nevertheless, you do not expect a football club to die. There’s no need. A football club transcends life and deathAs in comedy, timing is paramount in football and it didn’t do the Rayon fans a favor, to lose (3-2) against defending champs APR. Rayon started with aggressiveness in the first half-time scoring two goals before conceding three. Besides arguing with the side referee on the touch line on most occasions, Rayon fans witnessed their team’s coach Jean-Marie Ntangwabira not remaining sympathetic to water bottles and holding his head in his hands. The problem is that it is an image that sticks to Rayon coach and, indeed, one he has cultivated. It is no surprise to see in life, that a man regularly referred to as the best in the local game, has been reluctant to lose his temper when necessary. “I’m happy with the team performance; we failed the first intension of getting a win after leading in the first half, they did what they can, we lacked inspiration in front of goal,” he claimed in his post match interview.Meanwhile, Rayon’s veteran defender Hamad Ndikumana, having a likeable personality is all well and good, but even the widest of smiles will not win football matches whatever case.One thing I know about footballers, don’t raise your eyeballs; they can’t be trusted to know what is best for them in the long run. I remember the Amavubi squad under Sellas Tettah - descended into an ill-disciplined rabble and it took the appointment of the uncompromising Serbian Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojovic to knock the delinquents into shape, a headmaster to unruly children. Out went ill-discipline, in came passion and aggressiveness. Results swiftly followed; but that is another story though.More of the stick, less of the mayonnaise: still, the trouble is that Rayon while playing, resemble a rabbit paralyzed by car headlights to see behind the net and nothing sums this up better than the inability of Bogota Labama to make a simple tap-in when well placed in-front of the goal. How old is he anyway? Compare and contrast him with APR captain Olivier Kerekezi. Bogota’s s failure to convent the ball but getting hooked in the opponents’ net like a fish is fast becoming his thing. And that’s fine. And not for the first time, I should state, a ‘mosquito kick’ in front of an empty net; I think is healthier with the fans stream of criticism. Rayon have just about enough quality and good players, in the likes of Sina Jerome, Karim Nizigiyimana, Fuadi Ndayisaba to win some silverware if they score goals, yet Ntagwabira’s side is symptomatic of the manner in which they have sleep-walked their way down APR in most instances.Too often they have allowed matches to slip away, only to start playing when the situation has become desperate. Now that they have lost two games in a row, not surprising though, does it mean they are out of the title race? A definite yes. Dropping unnecessary points is very perilous for any team chasing trophies as the Blues will live testify.
