Rwanda players Yannick Mukunzi and Kevin Muhire score for Rwanda to give Coach McKinstry's side a home win today (25 April 2015) in the first leg of their 2015 CAF U-23 Championship and 2016 Rio Olympics qualifier.

Rwanda now take a 2 goal cushion into their away leg to be played on 9 May 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Coach McKinstry: View from the Dugout

Coach McKinstry sets out his assessment of the game, and his ongoing work to build the U-23 team.

"Obviously getting the win is very pleasing - The 2-0 victory today gives us a good cushion going into the second leg"

 

First Half

"Somalia came out looking to sit very deep and defend, so it was never going to be easy to get through them."

"Our first half our performance was quite good - we hit the cross bar from a free kick after one minute. On 17 minutes we scored from another set piece - a corner. We successfully drew Somalia players out allowing us space to place the crossed ball for midfielder Yannick Mukunzi who directed his header and we moved 1-0 ahead."

"The game was largely played in the Somalia half. Although I felt we could have been a bit more aggressive in the final third, we dominated the first half and went into half time 1-0 up".

 

Second Half

"We wanted make our 1-0 advantage count so we changed the formation slightly, subbing off holding midfielder Jean Marie Muvandimwe for striker Isaac Muganza - to try and be a bit more aggressive in the second half."

"Overall however, I think we gave Somalia a little bit too much respect in the second half. We allowed them to come out a bit more with the ball and we also didn't apply enough pressure in the 15 yards in front of the half way line, allowing them to play long balls."

"That said, our goalkeeper didn't have to make a single save - he was in an all white kit and there wasn't a bit of dirt on it. Somalia had no corners, they had no shots on target. They tried some long-range efforts but our goalkeeper wasn't worked at all."

 

"A bit of Magic to seal the performance"

At 80 minutes, Coach McKinstry sent on 16 year old Kevin Muhire to replace Italian based Bonfils Kabanda for the last 10 minutes.

 "I sent him on with one instruction... just before he went on I walked over to him on the half-way line and said 'if you get a bit of space outside the box you must shoot...' "

In the 91st minute, and from about 30 yards Muhire did just that.

"He was about 30 yards out, he opened up into a bit of space and made the strike I had asked for. The trajectory began deceptively high and wide, but swinging in - right into the top right-hand corner.  I've never had a player score a goal as good as that for me, and I also think it has probably been many a year since the Amavubi fans will have seen a goal as good as that at the Amahoro stadium... 

It was a bit of magic to seal our performance and the victory, from a young player with a lot of talent and promise."

 

VIDEO: See the Goal:

 

Lessons

"Despite a solid first half performance, I thought that we had not been aggressive enough in the final third of that half, despite it being something we had been speaking about all week in training.."

"Overall, I was quite frustrated by our second half performance. Our quality wasn't as high as our standards had been in training. The impact of the last minute decision not to include 8 players in the squad due to an administrative issue likely impacted on our performance overall - as we were required to field less experienced players who had to step in for some of the more experienced players who were ineligible due to the last minute administrative issues."

"Muhire scored a fantastic goal. He is a player with a lots of quality but is clearly still very young. Although he has scored a great goal in a 10 minute cameo performance at the end, we have to consider how we nurture his talent and feed him in gently into the game."

"I am pleased with our 2-0 win.  When we get back on the training pitch in 8 days time, I will be looking to continue my work to ensure we better apply pressure to the opposition and also bring a more aggressive, attacking focus to our game."

"Hopefully FERWAFA will also by then have sorted out the administration issues so that those 8 players who missed out today will be available, and we will have a full squad to choose from."

 

Rwanda Squad 

Marcel	Nzarora	Police
Emery	Bayisenge (C)	APR
Yves	Rubasha	Portland Timbers (USA)
Janvier	Mutijima	AS Kigali
Solomon	Nirasrike	VV St. Truiden (Belgium)
Yannick	Mukunzi	APR
Justin	Mico	AS Kigali
Bon fils	Kabanda	ASD Sangiovannese (Italy)
Jean-Marie	Muvandimwe	Gicumbi
Bertrand	Iradukunda	APR
Dominique Savio	Nshuti	Isonga
Substitutes
Bonheur	Hategikimana
Celestine	Ndayishimiye	Makura FC
Abdul	Rwatubyaya
Kevin	Muhire	Isonga
Isaac	Muganza	Rayon Sport
Isaie	Songa	AS Kigali
Bienvue	Mugenzi	Marines

 

Coaching Staff: Johnny McKinstry (Head Coach), Thierry Hitimana (Assistant Coach),Thomas Higiro (Goalkeeper's coach), Moussa Hakizimana (Doctor), Nuhu Assouman (Physio) na Emery Kamanzi (Team Administrator)

 

Images in this article sourced from http://www.onzestars.com/?p=394

 

CAF U23 Championship

The 2015 CAF U-23 Championship will be the second edition of the CAF U-23 Championship, the quadrennial youth football tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the under-23 national teams of their member associations.

Rwanda will face Somalia in a return leg on 9 May 2015 (Nairobi, Kenya).  Should Rwanda overcome Somalia they will then face Uganda, with the winner of that fixture going on to face Egypt.

A total of eight teams will then play in the final tournament, to be hosted in Senegal, December 5-19 2015.

Olympic Qualifiers

The tournament also acts as qualification to the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament , with the top three teams qualifying.

 

More News

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