FriendliesSaturdayTanzania U-20 vs Rwanda U-20MondayTanzania U-20 vs Rwanda U-20RWANDA’s U-20 national team jets out today aboard RwandAir to Dar es Salaam where it will play two friendly matches against Tanzania’s Ngorogoro Stars, one on Saturday and another on Monday.The team is preparing for the first leg of the 2013 Africa Youth Championship qualifier against Mali scheduled for the weekend of July 27-29 in Kigali.“We have had some good training sessions in Rubavu and are heading to Tanzania to test our level of competitiveness,” head coach Richard Tardy told Times Sport yesterdayTardy also noted he hopes to play Nigeria on July 24 in Kigali on their (Nigeria) way to Dar es Salaam where they are expected to face Tanzania in the weekend of July 27-29.The junior wasps thumped Primus league side Etincelles 4-0 in their first warm-up match in Rubavu last weekend.Tardy has included a couple of professionals in his squad such as Jean Marie Rusizingizandekwe from Belgium’s Marines, Bonny Bayingana (Express, Uganda), Bonfils Kabanda (AC Nancy, France) and Charles Tibingana (Proline, Uganda).Defender Solomon Nirisarike (Antweerp, Belgium) is set to miss the friendly matches in Tanzania but will be available for the Mali encounter since he can only be released by his club with five days to go as stipulated by Fifa.Rwanda reached the second round after dispatching Namibia in the first round following a 4-1 goals aggregate, but face an uphill task against Mali, who have most of their playing professional football in the French league.Seven teams will qualify to join hosts Algeria for the 2013 Africa Youth Championships finals tournament from where the best four qualify for the World U-20 Championships scheduled for June 2013 in Turkey.
