Two games, two wins. On Tuesday in Praia, Stephen Constantine’s Rwanda beat Cape Verde 2-1. According to Africa Soccer, it is the Amavubi’s first-ever win over the Blue Sharks. And yet it started badly.
Set up by Ryan Mendes, Gilson Benchimol opened the scoring in the 40th minute. But Claude Niyomugabo levelled in first-half stoppage time (45+2). After the break, substitute Elie Iradukunda « Tatou » turned the game around in the 52nd minute. Then came the hard part: holding on under Cape Verdean pressure through six minutes of added time. Constantine made no secret of his delight, The New Times reports: « The revolution has begun and we are going to change a lot of things in football in Rwanda. » In other words, the Englishman is thinking big.
Cape Verde already under pressure
Rwanda go top of Group K on six points, level in every way with Mali, who won 1-0 in Liberia. Cape Verde, beaten 3-1 in Bamako on matchday one, remain pointless along with Liberia. Pressure is already building on Humberto Bettencourt.
Constantine, for his part, kept his feet on the ground: « We have six points and that’s important, but qualification is not won after two matches. » He will be without Bonheur Mugisha, suspended for the next game against Mali after a second yellow card. The back-to-back meetings with the Eagles on November 11 and 15 will show whether a Rwanda side absent from the AFCON since 2004 are genuine contenders.