Hey: Rwanda ready for 2018 CHAN despite defeat to Algeria

Baba Rahman(L) of Ghana Hakizinnya Muhadjiri (R)of Rwanda during the 2017 African Cup of National Qualifiers playing on 3rd September 2016 in Accra Ghana between Ghana and Rwanda ©Christian Thompson/BackpagePix

by Austin Ditlhobolo

Saturday Jan 13, 2018. 12:30

Rwanda suffered a 4-1 defeat against Algeria in their last warm-up match on Wednesday in Tunisia ahead of the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals which will be hosted by Morocco.

Antoine Hey, the Rwanda head coach, has insisted that his team is ready and ‘can’t wait’ for their Group C opener against Nigeria.

After match Hey said, “We lost 4-1 unfortunately. The result doesn’t reflect the run of the game. We created a lot of chances that we could have converted.”

“We made some defending mistakes that cost us, we have learnt our lesson, it is a warning shot and I hope the players have heard it, but the good thing, there are no injuries and all players are still available and fit for Monday,” he continued when speaking in Rwanda’s New Times.

The German added that, “Friendly matches don’t count for anything 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.”

“Everybody is a little bit disappointed because of the result against Algeria, but not because of the match, and now we are looking forward to the game against Nigeria, we can’t wait to start our campaign,” stated Hey.

The 2018 CHAN finals tournament is scheduled to run from January 13 to February 4.

Rwanda will face Nigeria in their first group match on Monday, January 15 in Tangier before taking on Equatorial Guinea on January 19 and will conclude the group stage against Libya on January 23.