CHAN 2018: Rwanda’ll be ready for Nigeria despite defeat in friendly —Coach

The head coach of the Rwandan team, Antoine Hey, has said his side will be ready to face the Super Eagles in their African Nations Championship (CHAN) opener despite losing 4-1 to Algeria in a friendly on Wednesday.

The match was their final buildup game at the El Menzah Stadium, Tunis, as they will be up against their Nigerian counterparts in a Group C tie in Tangier next week Monday.

Despite the defeat to the North African nation, Hey praised his players for their effort, insisting that they deserved more from the game.

“We lost unfortunately 4-1 to Algeria. The result doesn’t reflect the run of the game. We created a lot of chances that we could have scored.” Hey told the Rwanda Football Federation official website.

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“We made some defending mistakes that cost, we learnt our lesson, it is a warning shot and I hope the players have learnt from it and the good thing, there are no injuries .All players are still available and fit for Monday game (Vs Nigeria).

“Friendly matches don’t count anything for us at this moment in time, it’s the Monday match against Nigeria that we are focused on and this is when it counts, this is when we need to be ready and definitely we will be ready.”

In a similar pre-tournament warm up game, the Eagles were held to a goalless draw by the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Rabat on Wednesday night.

The Salisu Yusuf-led team will kick off their 2018 CHAN campaign against Rwanda on Monday, before facing Libya and Equatorial Guinea in their other group games.

 

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