Rwanda face Libya in friendly match

International friendly

Wednesday

Rwanda     vs     Libya

 

Rwanda’s Amavubi team face-off Libya in a tough international friendly match which will be played on Wednesday afternoon at Amahoro stadium.

 

Head coach Milutin Sredojovic Micho said on Tuesday that the match will act as a reality check for his players putting them in good shape for Sunday’s Mali World Cup clash.

 

“This is a good match for us to prepare for Mali game. This game comes at a good time and it will help to measure our match fitness and tactical maturity before we take on Mali on Sunday,” added Micho.

 

The Serb stated on Monday that he has a “dream of qualifying Rwanda for the World Cup Brazil 2014.”

 

Rwanda take on Mali in Group H 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Sunday and Micho remains optimistic his team could not only get the three crucial points but also boost their hopes of being on the plane to Brazil for the world’s biggest football competition.

 

“My dream is to be in the world cup, and no one can stop me from dreaming, I am doing all I can to make sure we’re totally ready to face Mali.

 

I am concerned with my work, the players and the Rwandan people. So we all need to pull in the same direction on Sunday if we’re to get the points against Mali,” the Serb told local media on Monday.

 

He added, “We want to win the match against Mali because it will help us in terms of confidence going into the last two qualifiers. We respect Mali but without over respecting, they’re a very good side but we’ll be playing at home, so why not dream.”

 

Micho admitted that he is aware of the hurdle his team is going to encounter but the players know what is expected of them.

 

“Playing at this level comes with so much pressure but that’s football, we have to deal with it. We will be aiming for a good result. Mali has top players but we have to concentrate on ourselves,” noted the former SC Villa coach.

 

Meanwhile, nine of the ten professional players have already joined the Amavubi training camp. They include; Elias Uzamukunda [AS Cannes], Steven Godfroid [St. Giloisse] and Tanzania’s Yanga pair of Mbuyu Twite and Haruna Niyonzima, Jessy Reindorf [UR Namur], Kalisa Mao [TP Mazembe] and Dady Birori [AS Vita].

 

Two more, including skipper Olivier Karekezi and Edwin Ouon joined camp on Tuesday morning, while Belgium-based defender Salomon Nirisarike will join on Wednesday morning.

 

Rwanda, bottom of the group with one point after two qualifiers, must win the remaining four matches, starting on Sunday against Mali (home), Benin (away), Algieria (home and Mali (away), and hope that all the other results go in Rwanda’s favour in order to qualify to the World Cup..

 

Benin leads with four points. Algeria and Mali have three points each.

 

This is the second time that Rwanda will be facing Libya in a space of nine months. In the last meeting in Tunisia, Libya beat Rwanda 2-0 in Tunisia in a friendly as Amavubi were preparing for the first World Cup Brazil 2014 qualifier against Algeria, which Micho’s team lost 4-0. Libya plays