APR’s creative midfielder Haruna Niyonzima is confident his side can still make it to the last eight of the ongoing Cecafa/Kagame Cup Championship. Speaking to Times Sport by telephone from Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Rwandan international admitted that losing to Miembeni on Wednesday was real shock. “We still hope we can qualify to the quarter-finals, but we have wait and see what happens in the remaining fixtures including Rayon Sport against Awassa City (on Saturday),” the midfielder noted. Following Wednesday’s shock 2-1 defeat against the little known Zanzibar side, the defending champions’ only hope of qualify from the group stage via the best loser criteria. APR’s campaign to defend the Kagame Cup title has been dealt a major blow after picking up just a point from their two group games. The 2-all draw against Yanga in the first game was followed by 2-1 reverse against Miembeni. Now the military side will be hoping that their local archrivals Rayon can do them a big favour (the biggest they could ever ask from their long-time foes), by beating Awassa City. And also, a win for the Ethiopians will confirm APR’s qualification. On the other hand, Rayon need to beat Awassa more than three goals to hand APR the ticket to the next stage. Rayon’s opponent Awassa held URA to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday to secure a point going into Saturday’s final group game with the pointless Rwandan side. Three teams group A, two from B and C and the best loser from B and C qualify for the quarter-finals. Ends
