APR, Vital’O face off in final showdown

EL FASHER. Three-time winners APR face Burundian champions Vital’O in the final of the 2013 Cecafa Kagame Club Championship on Monday evening in North Darfur, Sudan.The game will be played at 7.30pm (CAT) at Al Fasher stadium and it will be the fifth time the teams are facing each other in a space of seven months.The military side will all be out to prevent another final setback and to write a new chapter in the club’s history by winning the regional club title on a foreign soil.After finishing trophy-less in the domestic season for the first time since 1995, APR and their German coach Andreas Spier have their eyes firmly fixed on the Kagame Cup.RelaxedAfter taking his players through their paces yesterday, a relaxed Spier told Times Sport, “We don’t want to talk about revenge but we need to beat them (Vital’O) to make up for the loss in the CAF Champions League, we are focused on winning the final and lift the Cecafa Kagame Club Championship.”“We are capable of winning. This is our chance to do it,” added Spier, who took over from Eric Nshimiyimana towards the end of last season. His counterpart Gilbert ‘Yaounde’ Kanyankole of Vital’O said they are taking their opponent seriously without too much respect. “We have to put in a lot of effort, sacrifice and determination if we’re to realise our dream.”“The two teams know each other quite well having played against one another on a couple of occasions before, but particularly this season, they beat us and we also defeated them and managed to draw in the third meeting this year,” noted the former Rayon Sports coach.Both teams, who were pooled together in Group A, are quite familiar with each other having drawn 1-1 in the group stage. In December, APR edged Vital’O 2-0 during the RPF anniversary tourney.Four months later, the Burundians eliminated APR from the Africa Champions League in the preliminary round on the away goals rule.Away syndromeWith APR missing influential midfielders Jean Baptiste Mugiraneza and Eric Nsabimana (all suspended), Heritier Turatsinze is likely to be deployed in the defensive midfield role.The military side, who won the cup in 2004, 2007 and 2010 when held at home, will be aiming to end the away jinx.Rayon Sports and Atraco [defunct] remain the only Rwandan clubs that have managed to win the regional title away from home.The military side has lost every final they have contested on foreign land.In 1996, APR lost the title to Tanzanian champions Simba in Dar es Salaam. In 2000, they reached the final and lost 3-0 to Tusker FC of Kenya in Nairobi. Again in 2005, APR reached the final in Mwanza but lost to Uganda’s SC Villa 3-0.First titleVital’O, who have never reached the regional championship title match, will be aiming to be the first Burundian club to win the Cecafa Cup title since the inception of the tournament in 1967.The final will be preceded by the third place play-off contest between home side Al Merreikh El Fasher and Rayon Sports.The tournament is sponsored by President Paul Kagame. The winning team will bag $30,000 in prize money, while the runners up take claim $20,000, with $10,000 set aside for the third-placed team.