Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Rwanda will be looking to take a step closer to Afcon 2017 qualification when they host Mozambique in a crucial Group H tie on Saturday at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali.
The Amavubi stunned Os Mambas in Maputo a year ago with a 1-0 win and will be hoping to replicate that performance and walk away with the all important three points.
Rwanda coach Johnny McKinstry told supersport.com: “It is an important game as everyone is aware for Rwanda. We need to get the three points from the game in terms of our qualification campaign and if we can do that then we will put ourselves in a very good position to go forward and try and seal qualification.”
“This whole week in training has been about performance. Can we put on a performance? We’ve seen the players do that last year against Mozambique, we’ve seen them do it against Ghana although we didn’t quite get the result, in Chan and various games.”
Rwanda sits second in Group H with six points and a win against Os Mambas will be important in keeping their qualification hopes alive among the top best two sides in the campaign.
With the Fifa ban on Benin, Rwanda now has a more realistic chance to book a ticket to Gabon but McKinstry has chosen to tread cautiously.
“We can only look at ourselves. We need to win this game. It does not matter about anyone else. We could look at all the mathematics, all the calculations until the end of time but unless we can pick up the points we need to pick up then it does not matter.
“So our focus now is on ourselves. Let’s get to the nine points with a good performance and then we can sit down and look at the mathematics.”
Liberia leads the charge of teams eyeing the top two best second placed sides with nine points from four games while second placed Benin, which has been banned from world football by Fifa, sits in second place with eight points.
Uganda, Mauritania and Central African Republic have seven points with Mauritania having played five games, one more than the Cranes and Les Fauves who face Botswana and Angola in that order this weekend.
Amavubi captain Haruna Niyonzima said: “We want to rewrite history in Rwanda. We are well prepared and are ready for the challenge.”
McKinstry will be looking to field striker Ernest Sugira despite him training once with the team since Saturday’s friendly game against Senegal where he injured his right ankle.
Sugira has scored three of Rwanda’s six goals in the Afcon 2017 qualification including a lone strike against Mozambique a year ago in Maputo as well as a brace in a record 5-0 win against Mauritius in March.
The last time Rwanda competed at Afcon was back in 2004 in Tunisia at the expense of Ghana and Uganda but the former is a win away from qualification.
Group H table leaders Ghana, who have amassed 10 points from four games, face Mauritius in Belle Vue with victory earning them a place in Gabon next January.
Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon and hosts Gabon have already secured slots at Africa’s biggest football showpiece.
Rwanda probable starting XI vs Mozambique:
Eric Ndayishimiye, Michel Rusheshangoga, Emery Bayisenge, Abdul Rwatubyaye, Abouba Sibomana, Yannick Mukunzi, Jean Baptiste Mugiraneza, Jean Claude Iranzi, Jacques Tuyisenge, Haruna Niyonzima, Ernest Sugira