Photo Courtesy; johnnymckinstry.com
Kigali, Rwanda, March 31: The national Soccer team head coach, Johnny Mckinstry has attributed his team Sunday loss to Zambia in an international friendly to inexperience of his charges.
Mckinstry made the comments in a newspaper interview published Tuesday hours after his team the Amavubi (The Bees) had lost 2-0 to Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets).
He explained that Zambia netted their first goal at the time when his side was one man down after defender; Ismael Nshutiyamagara was out of field of play receiving treatment for lower back strain.
Kigali, Rwanda, March 31: The national Soccer team head coach, Johnny Mckinstry has attributed his team Sunday loss to Zambia in an international friendly to inexperience of his charges.
Mckinstry made the comments in a newspaper interview published Tuesday hours after his team the Amavubi (The Bees) had lost 2-0 to Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets).
He explained that Zambia netted their first goal at the time when his side was one man down after defender; Ismael Nshutiyamagara was out of field of play receiving treatment for lower back strain.
At the same time, his replacement, James Tubane was waiting on the sidelines waiting for match officials to grant him permission to take to the pitch.
“The experienced Chipolopolo used this 20-second lapse to score while we were one man down and it can be blamed on our inexperience,” he told The New Times of Rwanda.
He also said though he was disappointed with the team’s loss, nonetheless, it had to be understood that such outcome sometimes helps the team to develop a thick skin.
“This is a very young team but it is from such circumstances that we learn. If a loss allows us to learn and build character then I will take it. As the games start coming we shall become very to beat,” he said.
The Irish born mentor said despite his team loss to Zambia he was impressed with the performance of his charges taking into the account that his team spent five days to prepare for the game.
“Overall, I am reasonably satisfied with the players because we had a short [period of] time to prepare for this encounter,” he said.
He in particular, was impressed with his charges for managing to keep the Zambians at bay during most of the early minutes such that their first first attempt at the Amavubi goal was in 23rd minute of the game.
“We managed to frustrate Zambia and their first [real] attempt at [our] goal was after 23 minutes in the first half,” he said.
Rwanda has organised a series of friendly games with high profiled teams in preparation for 2016 African Nations Championship (Chan) tournament that it will host from January 16-February 7.
The Chan tournament allows only based players to feature for their national teams and Rwanda’s next friendly will be against South Africa’s Bafana-Bafana on July 25 in Johannesburg.
“The experienced Chipolopolo used this 20-second lapse to score while we were one man down and it can be blamed on our inexperience,” he told The New Times of Rwanda.
He also said though he was disappointed with the team’s loss, nonetheless, it had to be understood that such outcome sometimes helps the team to develop a thick skin.
“This is a very young team but it is from such circumstances that we learn. If a loss allows us to learn and build character then I will take it. As the games start coming we shall become very to beat,” he said.
The Irish born mentor said despite his team loss to Zambia he was impressed with the performance of his charges taking into the account that his team spent five days to prepare for the game.
“Overall, I am reasonably satisfied with the players because we had a short [period of] time to prepare for this encounter,” he said.
He in particular, was impressed with his charges for managing to keep the Zambians at bay during most of the early minutes such that their first first attempt at the Amavubi goal was in 23rd minute of the game.
“We managed to frustrate Zambia and their first [real] attempt at [our] goal was after 23 minutes in the first half,” he said.
Rwanda has organised a series of friendly games with high profiled teams in preparation for 2016 African Nations Championship (Chan) tournament that it will host from January 16-February 7.
The Chan tournament allows only based players to feature for their national teams and Rwanda’s next friendly will be against South Africa’s Bafana-Bafana on July 25 in Johannesburg.
By: Joel Chirwa
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