The-Shot.Net Writers Club - Rwanda

Jan 28 1300 GMT Guinea - Rwanda 1:1 (final score)

Before the match:
- If Guinea beat Rwanda and Tunisia do not lose to Congo DR, Guinea will be already in the quarter finals.
- If Rwanda lose to Guinea, Rwanda will be eliminated if not Congo DR beats Tunisia. In that case there will remain a slim theoretical chance.
The Rwandan coach is more optimistic after the first match which saw a fine organisational display by his players. Guinea with more stars (Feindouno, Youla, Titi Camera, Balde) looked inspired in attack but scrappy in defence

1st half:
-('2) Rwanda with a first opportunity after an error by Guinean defender Balde
-Rwanda, look good as a team, well organised on the field, with forechecking and nice use of spaces
-('9) but Guinea has the more dangerous individuals: Youla escapes and can only be stopped by a foul:
-('10) Titi Camera, hits the goalpost with his brilliant free kick from 18 meters. The goal keeper did not even have time to move for the ball.
-('12) Guinea: Youla is all free at the edge of the penalty area after a mistimed offside trap, but his attempt goes high up into the air
-the Guinean profs look also much stronger in one to one challenges. Their physical superiority seems to be a bigger problam for Rwanda than in their first match against Tunisia.
-('15) Guinea: yellow against Titi Camera for a silly handball
-('17) Guinea huge opportunity for Titi Camera. Mansare breaks through on the wasted left hand side and makes a fine low cross which Camera takes directly, but across the bar.
-('18) Guineans have full control with their fast attackers, this time the Rwanda keeper races out to stop an attack
-('20)-('30)The Guineans have full control, Rwanda hardly crosses the midfield line, and Guinean winger Mansare torments his opponent on the left hand side. The west Africans only look bad when the defenders have the ball and get under pressure by the Rwandan forechecking. 3:1 opportunities which ended in harmless shooting.
-Rwanda have to help themselves with a number of small fouls and holdings because they are helpless against the superior Guineans. but the yellow card gets Guinean captain #17 Soumah for executing a free kick too quickly
-('32)('33) both sides get stopped by good defending after fast attacking attempts
-('35) Guinea: Titi Camera brakes through but his powerful shot is saved by the Rwandan keeper in style
-Rwanda have had now a couple of attacks that at least needed a clearance by the last defender, so they seem back in the game a little more
-('39) Rwanda: no chance for Gatete in one to one against the physical defenders of Guinea. Only passing game seems a possibility for the East african outsiders.
-('42)('43) Rwanda: a couple of neat attacks, but no real threat
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halftime 0:0
We have already seen this pattern in the matches of Cameroon and Senegal: An entirely dominating favourite, here Guinea, with handful of good chances wasted.
In their first match Guinea have scored in the second half, while Cameroon and Senegal got more and more frustrated. Let's see which of the two variants we will see here.

2nd half:
-('46) Guinea: huge opportunity after an error in the Rwandan defence. Feindouno has free way to the goal but it's across the bar from about 13 meters distance.
-('49) Guinea: through ball by Feindouno on Titi Camera and this time the keeper is helpless against his sharp low shot into the far corner - 1:0
-('55) Rwanda have a chance after a free kick cross from the left, but the header gets deflected by a defender to roll wide for a corner
-Though Rwanda only rarely have chances, Guinea play with fire when they do not try to score a second goal and are satisfied with controlling the game. Concentration errors loom, coming from overconfidence.
-('64) Desire Mbonabucya comes on for Rwanda. it is unclear why the most famous Rwandan footballer, a regular goalscorer in the Belgian first league, has not been in the starting lineup
-('70) Rwanda: This should have been the equaliser. Guinea, fallen asleep, allow A Rwanda 4:3 superiority in front of the goal but the East Africans are overanxious not to waste the situation and Rafaels shot eventually is blocked by one of the three defenders
-('72) Guinea: Youla escapes two defenders, curves around the keeper and - hits the goalpost. His dangerous second attempt is denied by the keeper
-('74) Rwanda bring on another striker
-it still seems that Guinea is not afraid at all of conceding a goal. Still Rwanda do more running, although starting to tire. Guineans feel their superiority through one to one situations which they almost always win. But this might not mean that Rwandans can not run into spaces to create chances. This is what they try.
-('80) Guinea: the referee awards another annoying yellow card to Guinea for a quickly taken free kick, this time against Feindouno
-('81) Guinea: Camera does it all alone: a pass from midfield, he himself rushes for, but close to the goal he has a little contact with a defender, starts to stumble and fall and can not unleash an attempt on goal.
-('85) Guinea: Bangoura in for Youla
-('89) Rwanda at least get a cross into the penalty area, but it is grabbed with a flying effort by the keeper
-('90) Guinea: Mansare is close to getting a penalty through his solorun. He has had 30 very strong minutes in the first half, but later only been conspicious sporadically
-('90) 4 minutes injury time
-('90 2) free kick for Rwanda, about 25 meters. The ball is fired into the wall but in the aftermath a header flies over the keeper but is cleared by a defender 1 meter before the goal line
-('90 4) Rwanda: two corners fly in, the Guinean defence is nervous. The keeper fails to seize the second one, the ball falls to the feet of #19 who fires it through six defenders on the line for the score - 1:1

final score 1:1
The Guinean coach at the sideline looked like on a horror trip, seeing it coming: Wasting chances, feeling secure, overconfident, and then: panicking in defence in the final seconds against limited but smart opponents.
A class ahead, Guinea have wasted a big, big opportunity.