| The author of the first Rwandan goal Gilbert Mugisha, in a duel with defender Tantely Randrianiaina. |
Madagascar lost to Rwanda in the small final of the friendly tournament as part of the Fifa window, yesterday at the Mahamasina stadium.
No double victory. The Barea lost 0-2 against the Rwandan Amavubi during the second day of the friendly tournament as part of the Fifa window yesterday at the Mahamasina stadium. Coach Romuald Rakotondrabe made a small change in the composition of the starting XI by aligning the goalkeeper of Paris FC, Teva Gardies, as well as two locals, namely the defender of Fosa Juniors FC, Amourson Andriniaina, and the midfielder of Disciples FC , Andy Rakotondrajoa.
The team was combative and cautious at the start of the match. The captain, Rayan Raveloson, missed the opener. The AJ Auxerre player won his duel against defender Emmanuel Imanishimwe then shot straight towards the goalkeeper, Kali Nathan, who was able to clear the ball (4th). Subsequently, Lalaina Rafanomezantsoa served El Hadary Raheriniaina who sent the ball over the crossbar (17th).
Rwanda reversed the situation and opened the scoring thanks to Gilbert Mugisha (29th). He escaped between Demoleon Sébastien and Andriniaina and only had to deceive Teva (29th). A lot of ball losses were noted at the end of the first period and after returning from the locker room.
Situation reversal
Coach Rôrô made substitutions in the second half. The entry of Berajo, Tsiry and Baggio, then Jean Yves and Ando Manoelantsoa, brought new life to the group. In the middle, Baggio missed the equalizer, served by Jean Yves on the left side (78th).
The Rwandans adopted a simple game by strengthening the defensive line. The Barea, for their part, confused speed and haste. The Amavubi knew how to take advantage of the situation and scored the knockout goal, a powerful shot from the captain, Djihad Bizimana, on a billiard pass from Abeddy Biramahire (89th). “I’m happy with today’s (yesterday) performance. It was difficult, Madagascar is a strong team, especially in the first thirty minutes. We had a problem with the pitch because we are used to playing on artificial grass. The players were able to adapt and were able to improve their performance,” said coach Torsten Franck Spittler. “We started the game well but missed a lot of chances. After the changes in the second half, still no goal… We lost but we were able to learn lessons. A lot of things remain to improve, in all areas because we conceded two goals and didn’t have any
scored none,” recognized coach Rôrô. “We really made the effort, … of course there are things to improve … We were not able to put our game in place given the state of the pitch,” underlined Rayan Raveloson for his part.
Rwanda and Madagascar each had a win and a draw, but the former beat the host selection in a head-to-head match. The Bareas and the staff left the field with their heads bowed. Coach Rôrô’s men have only two months left to prepare more seriously for the next official matches, counting for the third and fourth days of the World Cup qualifiers against the Comoros and Mali respectively at the beginning of June.
Serge Rasanda