Today is a do-or-die for the Amavubi Stars at Amahoro Stadium if they are to keep their hopes alive for a ticket in the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Rwanda national football team face Benin this evening at Amahoro National Stadium in the return leg of their double header.
It’s a must-win game for Rwanda. Amavubi are currently in third position with only two points after three games. They face Benin who are second with six points. Group leaders Nigeria have seven points from three matches.
A loss today is likely to end Rwanda’s AFCON hopes, following a 3-0 defeat to Benin last week in Abidjan at Stade Félix Houphouët Boigny. The stakes are high for the Amavubi Stars.
German coach Torsten Spittler and his team will rely on the home crowd at Amahoro Stadium to rally them as they aim to bounce back. A win over Benin would keep their AFCON hopes alive ahead of upcoming matches against Nigeria (away) and Libya (at home) to conclude the qualifiers.
During yesterday’s press conference the Amavubi stars head coach Torsten Spittler said that the him and the boys are in good mood to secure the win
“The team is in good mood and me too,We discussed about what happened in the last game so we hope that we won’t make these mistakes again” coach Torsten Spittler during press conference
“What I can ensure you is that our is highly motivated and we are trying to play football ball, I think if you watched the last match we could have scored in the third minute, it’s not that we are playing against them and we don’t have a chance ‘No’ we have and we will try to use this chance and as i said at the begging, it will be a very tough game but it will be also a tough game for them” Torsten added.
In terms of injury updates, coach Torsten mentioned that Manzi Thierry, who was injured in the last match against Benin, is still not fit to start. Meanwhile, Kwizera Jojea remains doubtful for today’s game.
The 2025 AFCON qualifiers are tightly packed, with matches scheduled from September 2 to November 15. Rwanda will need to be at their best to secure one of the two tickets to Morocco for the tournament.
Rwanda has only qualified for AFCON once in the past 21 years, with their first and only appearance in 2004 in Tunisia, where they managed to outqualify both Ghana and Uganda.
