Usengimana, Nirisarike out of Mali game

AYC QualifierTomorrowRwanda vs. MaliJunior wasps defensive duo of Faustin Usengimana and Salomon Nirisarike has been ruled out of Sunday’s Africa Youth Championship qualifier against Mali due to be played at Stade de Kigali.Usengimana suffered a hamstring on Tuesday during a friendly match against Nigeria’s Flying Eagles while Nirisarike aggravated his ankle injury while featuring for Royal Antwerp in the Belgian second division leagueThough the pair is out of Sunday’s clash against Mali, Head coach Richard is counting on them for the return leg due in Bamako on August 12.“I will miss them on Sunday but I hope they should be in good form in time for the second leg tie in Mali,” said Tardy.Tardy also believes that though he has been deprived of the duo, he still has three options of finding suitable replacements.“I am thinking about players like Patrick Umwungeli, Hamdan Bariyanga and Michel Rusheshangoga to cover that vacuum. I believe one of these players will make a good combination with Emery Bayisenge in central defence against Mali,” added Tardy.The Frenchman also received good news after midfielder Eric Nsabimana was cleared for Sunday’s game following a recovery of a knock on his leg he sustained against Nigeria U-20 this week.“The team is ready for Sunday’s game and I believe recent performances in all the three friendly matches we have played will be of an added advantage to our team when they face Mali”.In its preparation, the Junior wasps beat Nigeria 1-0 on Tuesday after securing back to back victories over Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Heroes (2-0 & 2-1) a fortnight ago.In the first qualifying round, Rwanda proved too strong for Namibia, after knocking out the latter 4-1 on aggregate.Meanwhile, the winner between Rwanda and Mali over two legs will play Zambia in the third and final qualifying round later this year.Algeria are the hosts of the 2013 AYC and seven teams are expected to reach the championship next year after two-legged games are concluded in August.

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Usengimana, Nirisarike out of Mali game