The Orange African Nations Championships (CHAN) hosts Rwanda will be seeking to secure all points when they take on Morocco in the final game of Group A on Sunday at Amahoro National Stadium.
Johnny McKinstry, the first man to guide Rwanda to the knockout stage of a major competition, is aiming to win the last game to make sure his team secure top position in group A unbeaten.
Rwanda managed to win their two opening matches against Côte d’Ivoire 1-0 and Gabon 2-1 and will be looking for the win against Morocco, who have only picked one point from a possible six.
Morocco drew against Gabon and lost to Côte d’Ivoire but the coach is still hoping his side can secure quarter finals place.
“We have to improve every game if we are to go far in the competition, I think we played better in the last game (against Gabon) than we did against Côte d’Ivoire and that’s the target, to improve every game,” McKinstry said.
If Rwanda goes ahead and tops their group, they will play the second-placed team in Group C and they will play the winner of Pool C if they finish second in their pool.
“We play Morocco in our last game, and the target now is to win the group, we are now in a position to do that,” the Irishman said after the game.
His counterpart Mhamed Fakhir of Morocco said they have to win their last game in order to give themselves a chance to qualify for the knockout stages, but also pray that the other result go their favour.
He noted, “Football is win, draw and lose. I am happy for the point earned against Gabon but we made mistake against Côte d’Ivoire so we are going to do our best to win the last game which will be difficult.”
“We are looking forward the last game and it is a win which will give us the place in quarter-finals.” he added.
Rwanda has won once against Morocco 3-1 back in 2008 in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Kigali while Morocco won the second leg 2-0.
McKinstry will be looking for the form of Ernest Sugira, who scored two goals against Gabon as well as player-maker Jean Claude Iranzi, defender Emery Bayisenge, and team captain Jacques Tuyisenge.
Gabon and Côte d’Ivoire will be battle for the qualification as both teams are still in contention. Gabon have one point while Côte d’Ivoire have got three points.
