Lague Byiringiro, who came on as a substitute, helped Rwanda to secure their first win of the 2021 African Cup of Nations Qualification in a match against Mozambique.
Prior to the match, Rwanda had played 4 games without recording a single win. 2 draws and 2 losses. Few hours before the kickoff, Mashami’s team learned from CAF that the first choice goalkeeper, Olivier Kwizera was not allowed to play today’s match due to the red card he got in the CHAN Championship. This meant that Kenya based and Tusker FC goalkeeper, Emery Mvuyekure, had to be given the opportunity to play his first game for the senior national team.
Not only Mvuyekure played his first game, but Steve Rubanguka also started in the midfield due to the absence of Djihad Bizimana and Ally Niyonzima who are regular in the starting line-up.
In the 3-5-2 Formation, the defence was led by Nirisarike who joined APR FC duo Mutsinzi and Manzi who also played together in 2021 CHAN. In the midfield, Mukunzi was with Rubanguka, Haruna played behind strikers Kagere and Sugira while Imanishimwe and Fitina played the wing-backs.
After a non-promising 45 minutes of the first half, Rwanda coach Vincent Mashami immediately made 2 changes to alter the game formation. Rubanguka gave place to Olivier Niyonzima while Manzi was replaced by Lague Byiringiro who changed the game
In the 69th minute of the match, Lague Byiringiro, who had come on as a substitute, fired a powerful shot from outside the box that ended in the back of the net. This was Rwanda’s first goal of the campaign. The match ended in a one-goal victory in the favour of Amavubi against Os Mambas of Mozambique
Lague Byiringiro, 20, who scored his first goal for the national team, is currently playing for APR FC in Rwanda. The wonderkid, who excelled at CHAN in Cameroon, is said to have started attracting European teams including Swiss side Zurich FC and he is expected to fly to Switzerland next month for trials.
Rwanda moves into second in the group pushing Mozambique into third. On March, 26, The leaders, Cameroon, will travel to Praia to face Cape Verde to complete the fifth round games of Group F.
Rwanda’s chances to qualify for the 2021 AfCON final games scheduled in Cameroon next year have risen but Rwanda still needs to make a well-calculated move and also wait for results from other games.
