{"id":2000127439,"date":"2026-09-29T11:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T09:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000127439"},"modified":"2026-09-29T13:27:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:27:51","slug":"cape-verdes-world-cup-rise-raises-stakes-for-determined-amavubi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/cape-verdes-world-cup-rise-raises-stakes-for-determined-amavubi\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Verde\u2019s World Cup rise raises stakes for determined Amavubi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two teams last met six years ago in the qualifiers for the 2021 AFCON, with both matches ending 0\u20130. Much has changed since then, particularly for Cape Verde, who have established themselves among Africa\u2019s most competitive sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cape Verde reached the quarter-finals of the 2023 AFCON in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire before making their FIFA World Cup debut. Their squad is now largely made up of players based in top leagues across Europe, South America, and Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the Blue Sharks come into Tuesday\u2019s match under pressure after losing 3\u20131 to Mali in their opening Group K qualifier in Bamako last Friday. They are eager to reverse a recent difficult spell after facing elite world opposition at the World Cup, where they held Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia to draws before pushing Argentina into extra time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rwanda, meanwhile, started their qualifying campaign on a high note with a 3\u20131 home win over Liberia at the Amahoro Stadium and enter the contest riding strong form after recent victories in international play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Amavubi squad has also evolved significantly since the 2020 encounters, with only a select group of experienced players remaining. Midfielder Djihad Bizimana, left-back Emmanuel Imanishimwe, defender Ange Mutsinzi, and midfielder Kevin Muhire are among the veterans providing crucial stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amavubi coach Stephen Constantine emphasized that Rwanda traveled to Praia seeking maximum points rather than taking a defensive posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are here to get points. We did not come here to lose,\u201d Constantine told journalists ahead of the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Amavubi coach Vincent Mashami expects Cape Verde to dominate possession on home soil, while former captain Haruna Niyonzima urged Rwanda\u2019s senior leaders to guide the younger players through a demanding away atmosphere in Praia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cape Verde will be looking for an immediate response after their defeat to Mali, while Rwanda will be aiming to build on their recent form. The pivotal Group K clash is scheduled for 6 p.m. Kigali time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"669\" data-id=\"2000127442\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07.29_40-c7774.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000127442\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Amavubi squad has also evolved significantly since the 2020 encounters, with only a select group of experienced players remaining.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"622\" data-id=\"2000127446\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07.24_55-946bd.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000127446\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cape Verde reached the quarter-finals of the 2023 AFCON in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire before making their FIFA World Cup debut. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1013\" data-id=\"2000127443\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07.25_36-1a9fb.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000127443\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Haruna Niyonzima captained Amavubi when the two sides last met, while Ryan Mendes remains part of the Cape Verde squad.<br><br><br><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"864\" height=\"1080\" data-id=\"2000127441\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07.31_50-512d8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000127441\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Amavubi coach Stephen Constantine said the team did not travel to Praia to suffer defeat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"864\" data-id=\"2000127444\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07.21_39-7efe4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000127444\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Former Amavubi coach Mashami Vincent has confidence in Stephen Constantine, saying the coach never goes into a match expecting to lose to any opponent.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1250\" data-id=\"2000127448\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_9.47_18_am-806af.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000127448\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1250\" data-id=\"2000127447\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_08.05_53-4e473.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000127447\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1250\" data-id=\"2000127445\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_8.55_32_am-29e48.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000127445\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rwanda&#8217;s national team, Amavubi, face a much-changed Cape Verde side on Tuesday as they meet in the second round of Group K in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000127440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000127439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default 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Amavubi","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":600,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07_30.07-511b7.jpg","width":600,"height":400},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07_30.07-511b7.jpg","width":600,"height":400},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07_30.07-511b7.jpg","width":600,"height":400},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07_30.07-511b7.jpg","width":600,"height":400},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-29_at_07_30.07-511b7.jpg","width":600,"height":400}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000127439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000127439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000127439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000127449,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000127439\/revisions\/2000127449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000127440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000127439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000127439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000127439"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000127439"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000127439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}