The Amavubis of Rwanda on Tuesday at the Huye Stadium humbled the Bafana Bafana of South Africa with a stunning 2-0 win in a vital Group C Qualifier of the 2026 world cup just as Lesotho succumbed to a goalless draw with the Squirrels of Republic of Benin in the same group clash.
Incidentally, the Huye Stadium located where the relics of the Rwanda Genocide wars are locked up in a Museum is where the Super Eagles lost face with the vast Nigerian Football supporters for forcing the less fancied Warriors of Zimbabwe to 1-1 draw last Sunday. Is Huye Stadium of Africa fast becoming a venue where giants are humbled?
The South African match ended with the first half as Innocent Nshuti could not prove to be a South African friend when he scored from a Byiringiro connect in the 12th minute and Gilbert Mugisha got a connect from Mutsinzi to score the second goal in the 28th minute.
The South African Coach was distracted with his one man protest of alleged misdemeanor by the Warriors of Zimbabwe shouting that CAF and FIFA should actually ban the country. The protest made him lose sight of statistical advantages his wards acquired with ball possession of 37-63% meaning they were in control of the game to do ‘shine shine bobo’; they could not take advantage of their 6 corner kicks to Rwanda’s 2 while Rwanda kept shooting at sight blasting 7 shots 4 on target and 2 off target shots while South Africa blasted 5 with 2 on target and 5 off target shots.
Burdened with 2 yellow cards, Rwanda employed long balls 44 in the first half and 91 in the second half making 44% to diffuse South Africa that could only play 9 long balls in the first half and 48 in the second half making a pediatric 19% to put South Africa in a tight corner to qualify.
The Lesotho versus Benin Republic draw shot Rwanda on top of Group C after Day 2 of 10 matches as the country has 4 points with 2 goals for; South Africa with her only win has 3 points scoring 2 goals and conceding 3 to place second; Nigeria is 3rd with 2 points, 2 goals for and 2 against; Lesotho is 4th with 2 points, 1 goal for and 1 against; Zimbabwe is 5th with 1 goal for and 1 against while Benin rocks the bottom with a point, a goal scored and 2 conceded.
The implication of this is that if the Nigerian football community can calm down and their football officials as well as the players upgrade, Nigerian can conveniently fly to the 2026 world cup finals.
Rwanda had played four of their last five matches in the AFCON series. Forced Benin to 1-1 draw on 22nd March 2023; lost to Benin on their soil 0-3 on 29th March 2023; lost again to Mozambique 0-2 on 18th June 2023; played 1-1 with the Teranga Lions of Senegal on 9th September 2023 while the country played goalless with Zimbabwe on Day 1 of the world cup qualifier played 16th November 2023.
Rwanda did not qualify for the AFCON finals in Ivory Coast to be held January to February next year, so the country will resume her world cup campaign on 5th June 2024 against Benin Republic; play Lesotho on 8th June 2024; tackles Nigeria on 17th March 2024 and again play Lesotho on 24th March 2024.
South Africa was busy with International friendly matches, played goalless with Namibia on 9th September 2023; defeated Congo DR 1-0 on 12th September 2023; drew goalless with Eswatini on 13th October 2023 and earned a 1-1 draw with the Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire in Abidjan on 17th October 2023 while she defeated Republic of Benin 2-1 on Day 1 of the world cup matches.
South Africa will be on parade in Ivory Coast for the AFCON finals playing against Mali on 16th January; against Namibia on 21st January and Tunisia on 24th January before coming to Nigeria for the crucial winner takes all world cup match on 5th June 2024.
In some other matches played today, Botswana beat Guinea 1-0; Ethiopia lost to Burkina Faso 0-3; Lesotho played goalless with Benin Republic; Somalia with 10 men lost to Uganda 0-1; Tunisia piped Malawi 1-0; Eswatini lost to Cape Verde 0-2.
Also today, Togo played goalless with Senegal; Comoros shock Ghana 1-0; South Sudan played goalless with Mauritania; Mauritius and Angola played goalless; Libya played 1-1 with Cameroon while Sao Tome lost 0-2 to Namibia.
Two matches are slated for 2000 hours, Niger versus Zambia and Tanzania versus Morocco.
Yesterday Monday, Djibouti lost to Guinea Bissau 0-1; Gambia lost to Ivory Coast 0-2; the match between Eritrea and Congo was cancelled; Liberia that just changed political leadership outing former world best player George Weah lost to Equatorial Guinea by a lone goal with ten men; Kenya bashed Seychelles 5-0; Mali played 1-1 with CAR and Chad lost to Madagascar 0-3.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line
#NFF #CAF #FIFAWC2026.
