Mukura plot early push for league title

Mukura Victory Sport’s head coach Cedric Kaze has urged his players to Keep the eye on the 2013/14 Turbo King National Football League title following their impressive 4-0 opening day win over AS Muhanga on Saturday.The Huye-based side, which finished fourth last season, dominated the match in Muhanga as Kaze registered his first win against his counterpart Ali Bizimungu since joining Mukura last season.New signing Emmanuel Minani scored a brace, while Claude Nahimana and Noah Byimana scored the other two goals.Following the win, the second-biggest of the opening weekend, which Was only surpassed by APR’s 6-2 humiliation of Marines on Sunday. “It was a very tough game, harder than the final score would suggest and I thank my players for putting in an incredible performance,” Kaze said.Asked if he thinks his team could challenge for the title, the Burundian tactician said, “We are not in the league to follow others, we are in it to win. It is never easy for any other team apart from Rayon Sports and APR but we are determined to give them a run for their money.”He said Mukura is a big team that should be winning trophies. The Yellow and Black side has not won any silverware since 1994.The club which was founded in the early 1960s has never won the league Title. However the team has four major trophies under its belt won from the Peace Cup (Rwanda Cup) in 1963, 1978, 1986, 1990 and 1992.To break the league jinx, Kaze and his troops will have to contend with the power, experience and near total dominance of the country’s most successful club, APR FC as well as the most supported, second-most successful and the reigning champions, Rayon Sports.Record 13-time league champions APR thrashed Marines 6-2 in their opening fixture on Sunday at Stade de Kigali, while Rayon kicked off the start of their title defence with a 2-1 win over newly promoted Gicumbi FC on Saturday.Midfielders Djamal Mwiseneza and Abouba Sibomana scored for the Didier Gomez da Rosa’s champions, while Jean Pierre Maombi scored the consolation for Jean Baptist Kayiranga’s new boys.Gomez said, “For us it is a mixture of joy and sadness because we won but also lost our key players through a red card and a terrible injury. “We have lost Faustin Usengimana for almost the whole season due to injury and our captain was sent off and he will miss the next game. I feel sorry for him (Faustin), and I hope he makes a quick recovery because he is such a key player for us,” explained the Frenchman.Another title contender, Police FC, who have finished runners-up in the last two seasons, beat new comers Esperance 2-0 with goals coming from midfielder, Fabrice Twagizimana and striker Jacques Tuyisenge.It was a bright start for Sam Ssimbwa who is making his debut as Police coach after replacing Serbian Goran Kopunovic.The Ugandan coach said, “I am happy we won the first game, but we need to work hard in the coming games because we need to be consistent, and also we need to play in a certain way which I think will take the players some time to adjust.”