Rwanda not in quarters by mistake - McKinstry

Alex McCarthy and Darren Wiltshire are the two performance analysts in the backroom staff of Amavubi. Photo by Clive Kyazze

Rwanda became the first country to qualify for the quarterfinals of the 2016 African Championship of Nations (Chan) after they defeated Gabon 2-1 on Wednesday, something coach Jonathan McKinstry says has not happened by mistake.


Before the championship started, the Amavubi hired two performance analysts from England, Darren Wiltshire, 32 and Alex McCarthy, 25.
The two are responsible for studying the national team, with their duties focused on in-depth analysis of both Amavubi training sessions and matches played as well as the technical study of opposition teams.
“We are totally a different team from the one we were before Wiltshire and McCarthy came in,” McKinstry told Daily Monitor.


“Now we pay alot of attention to detail, and we share everything with the players individually but also as a team because they need to get better everyday.”


“It’s important not to just play football, you need to know where you stand in terms of performance and ability. Are you doing it right or wrong? If you have a weakness, what should we do to improve it?”


“And that has reflected in our games, because we know what we are able to do. And want we can’t, we try to reason why we are in such a situation,” added the 30-year old Irishman. Rwanda defeated Ivory Coast 1-0 in their opening fixture before their triumph over Gabon, a game that McKinstry applauded his players for sticking to the game plan.
“We knew Gabon’s fullbacks don’t move upfront so often and their wingers are not defensive. So Fitina (Omborenga) and Celestin (Ndyayishimye) would have a lot of room to help in attack something, we exploited very well.”
“After studying Gabon, the analysts observed that their central defenders are not that solid and we needed a big striker to trouble them. Therefore Ernest Sigura started and scored two.”


“They also singled out Gabon’s number six (Tchen Djesnot Kabi) as a dangerous player; we told our midfielders to run at him once we have the ball, he failed to hold his nerves and eventually was sent off,” McKinstry said.
McCarthy joined Amavubi from English Premier League’s side AFC Bournemough while Wiltshire has a ten-year experience working with famous football analysis company Opta.


According to McKinstry, both bring good levels of expertise to the technical team and will produce high quality video analysis to support on-field coaching efforts.


“This is an area of the game that many African teams undermine. Often, coaches purely focus on the practical coaching but go to any top team such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Manchester City and you will find performance analysis departments with 10 to 20 people,” he added.


Rwanda’s last game is against Morocco today and McKinstry has declared that he wants to go to the knock out stage with a 100 percent record.

CHAN 2016 STANDINGS

P W D L GF GA Pts
Group A
Rwanda 2 2 0 0 3 1 6
Ivory Coast 2 1 0 1 1 1 3
Gabon 2 0 1 1 1 2 1
Morocco 2 0 1 1 0 1 1
Group B
DR Congo 2 2 0 0 7 2 6
Cameroon 2 1 1 0 1 0 4
Ethiopia 2 0 1 1 0 3 1
Angola 2 0 0 2 2 5 0
Group C
Nigeria 2 1 1 0 5 2 4
Guinea 2 0 2 0 4 4 2
Tunisia 2 0 2 0 3 3 2
Niger 2 0 1 1 3 5 0
Group D
Zambia 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Uganda 1 0 0 1 2 2 1
Mali 1 0 0 1 2 2 1
Zimbabwe 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
NB: Table does not include yesterday’s matches

Chan Top scorers
Chisom Chikatara 4 (Nigeria)
Ahmed Akaichi 3 (Tunisia)
Meshack Elia 2 (DR Congo)
Ernest Sigura 2 (Rwanda)
Camara Agogo 2 (Guinea)
Emery Bayisenge 1 (Rwanda)
Duarte Yano 1 (Angola)
Gelson Dala 1 (Angola)
Atouba Emane 1 (Cameroon)
Heritier Luvumbu 1 (DR Congo)
Guy Lusadisu 1 (DR Congo)
Nelson Munganga 1 (DR Congo)
Jonathan Bolingi 1 (DR Congo)
Merveille Bope 1 (DR Congo)
Aaron Boupendza 1 (Gabon)
Yannick Zakri 1 (Ivory Coast)
Sekou Koita 1 (Mali)
Hamidou Sinayoko 1 (Mali)
Osas Okoro 1 (Nigeria)
Zakaria Adebayor 1 (Niger)
Farouk Miya 1 (Uganda)
Erisa Ssekisambu 1 (Uganda)
Isaac Chansa 1 (Zambia)
Aboubakar Bangoura 1 (Guinea)
Adamou Musa 1 (Niger)
Youssef Alio 1 (Niger)
Aboubacar Sylla 1 (Guinea)