Rwanda, Cameroon settle for draw

CHAN hosts Rwanda were held to a 1-1 draw by Cameroon in a friendly game on Wednesday evening at the newly renovated Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu.

Amavubi central defender Abdul Rwatubyaye opened the scoring in the 40th minute through a superb header from a Yannick Mukunzi corner to give Johnny McKinstry’s side to send the home crowd into a frenzy.

The home side was unfortunate not to have taken an early lead in the seventh minute when right-winger Jacques Tuyisenge missed a header before youngster Danny Usengimana missed an opportunity following a great cross from Tuyisenge six minutes later.

Cameroon were on the back heel in the opening 45 minutes with no shot on target as Amavubi dominated possession.

In the second half, Rwanda coach Johnny McKinstry introduced teenager Kevin Muhire and Isaie Songa for Hegman Ngomirakiza and Usengimana for more pace in attack and indeed their arrival saw Amavubi put the Indomitable Lions under immense pressure.

Cameroon coach Martin Ndtoungou Mpile replaced Ronald Ngah and Ghislan Mogou with Samuel Nlend and Moumi Ngamaleuand indeed the change added a spark to Cameroon’s attack.

Forward Idriss Abane came close with a header but it was substitute Ngamaleu who equalized for Cameroon in the 54th minute converting his side’s only shot on target in the game.

Both sides looked for the winner thereafter but failed to find the back of the net.

Rwanda coach Johnny McKinstry said, “We were looking for two things. Firstly, we are still not in the tournament so the draw in this game has no bearing on the tournament. So the first thing we were looking for was some individual players were playing for their places and we told them that before the game.

“The second thing for us was to put on a very structured and very organized performance because once the championship was going to be held in Rwanda, we were going to be up against the giants of African football.

“You even look in our group, the Ivory Coast, Morocco and Gabon in recent years so our friendly games, we didn’t pick to play friendly games with small teams. We picked to play Cameroon today and DR Congo on Sunday. The reason for that was so that we have the most difficult of friendly games to challenge our players.”

Mpile said he was content with his side’s performance.
Cameroon head to Kigali on Thursday where they will camp for five days before travelling to Uganda to face the Cranes in a friendly game on January 13.