Thanks to Captain Djihad Bizimana and Mugisha Gilbert, the national team ‘Amavubi’ defeated Madagascar in front of their fans 2-0, in a friendly match to prepare for the 2026 World Cup. June.
It is a match that took place on Wednesday, March 25, 2024, at 9:00 p.m., at the Barea Mahamasina Stadium, in Antananarivo City, Tigers coach Spittler made two changes to the 11 players who played in a 0-0 draw with Botswana on Friday last week.
Ntwari Fiacre and Byiringiro Lague had made room for Maxime Wenssens, who was playing his first game for the National Team, and Hakim Sahabo, who had not played in the last time.
In the field were: Maxime Wenssens, Ombolenga Fitina, Imanishimwe Emmanuel ‘Mangwende’, Manzi Thierry, Mutsinzi Ange Jimmy, Rubanguka Steve, Captain Djihad Bizimana, Hakim Sahabo, Muhire Kevin, Mugisha Gilbert and Nshuti Innocent.
The first 20 minutes of the game were characterized by Madagascar’s better performance than Amavubi, Very early, Madagascar could have opened the scoring due to a mistake made by the defender Ange who tried to sneak up on the Madagascar striker and steal the ball from him, but the goalkeeper Wenssens came to the rescue.
On the 15th minute, Thierry Manzi again lost the ball in the net in an inexplicable way, luckily for the Tigers the ball was turned in front of the goalkeeper and it was pushed into the goal.
After just six minutes, Mangwende, who came on late, lost the ball but Thierry Manzi lay down to prevent the Madagascar player from chasing the ball, which was defended by Maxime Wenssens of Belgium’s Union Saint Gilloise.
From the 25th to the 35th minute, the Amavubu guys were sharp in the net and started to play well through long balls that connected Gilbert Mugisha and Nshuti Innocent.
Around the 22nd, Rayon Sports Captain, Muhire Kevin caught the ball on the line that divides the field in two, on the left side, and connected a long ball to Gilbert Mugisha, who left Madagascar’s defenders, and immediately threw the ball into the net, which was empty.
Coach Spittler’s boys continued to play well after getting the first goal, Around the 34th minute, Fitina Ombolenga picked up the ball on the right, turned it well in front of the goalkeeper Nshuti Innocent and failed to put it in the goal.
Madagascar started the second half by attacking Amavubi to see how they could compensate for the goal of Gilbert ‘Barafinda’.
In the 58th minute, Frank Spittler made the first change of the game, replacing Nsuti Innocent with Biramahiru Abeddy. Two minutes later he made another change, removing Mugisha Gilbert who scored the first goal, and replacing Leopards FC Kenya striker Gitego Arthur.
In the last 30 minutes, Madagascar has been making changes, adding attacking players, and they are passing well in the field, but breaking through the middle to reach the goal is difficult for them due to the way Rubanguka Steve played very well in the middle of the field.
In the last minutes of the game, Rwanda made the third change in this game, Hakim Sahabo who had used a lot of effort putting pressure on the Madagascar defenders and gave Hakizimana Muhadjiri a place.
These changes helped the Tigers get their second goal. It was a ball that Mangwende picked up on the left side and sent it to Gitego Arthur who played it well with Muhadjiri and Abeddy, who sent it behind the back of the net to Captain Djihad Bizimana, who then released a powerful shot in the defense, the second one was a clean one.
The game ended shortly after. The Tigers went on to win 2-0.
The Tigers’ trip to Madagascar has come to an end, as the two friendlies brought it to a close. On Friday, March 22, 2024, they drew against Botswana in the first friendly match, and now they beat Madagascar again at home with 2-0 goals.
These are friendly matches that helped Rwanda to prepare well for the third and fourth day of the World Cup 2026 qualification matches where Rwanda will visit Benin and Lesotho in June this year.
Rwanda still leads Group C with four points, after the first and second day’s matches saw a 2-0 win over South Africa and a 0-0 draw with Zimbabwe, both held in Huye in November 2023.
