Amavubi head coach Carlos Alos Ferrer is facing a serious defense crisis ahead of Rwanda's crunch 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Benin in March as the majority of his senior defenders are currently not playing.
Ferrer's side will be seeking their first victory in the qualifiers when they face Benin on March 20 in Group L third match of the qualifiers before they visit the same side in the return slated for March 28 in Porto-Novo.
However, his key men in defense are either without clubs or struggling for fitness could leave run out of options but to introduce inexperienced players.
For instance, the likes of Ange Mutsinzi, Thierry Manzi, Emery Bayisenge and Salomon Nirisarike don't have clubs while Abdul Rwatubyaye, who has been out of action since last year through injury, is running against the clock to be fit ahead of Benin tie.
"I'm worried about the situation of players that are important for me and actually are not playing, let's see what happens in February," Ferrer told Times Sport.
Ferrer is used to the 3-5-2 style with Nirisarike, Manzi and Mutsinzi always his key men at the back.
But none of the three players have a club and two of them have hence been out of action throughout the year.
In June 2022, Nirisarike left FC Urartu from Armenia and since then struggled to find another club. He is now with his family in Belgium after his deal to play in China fell through after the country imposed travel restrictions against foreign players due to the covid19 outbreak.
Meanwhile, Manzi in February 2022 signed a six-month contract with FAR Rabat of Morocco, after which the club did not appreciate his performance and immediately released him.
Since his release in September 2022, he is without a club...he even approached Rayon Sports but they weren't interested in his services.
Mutsinzi's future also hangs in balance since he terminated his contract with former club CD Trofense in early January.
The Spanish is now exploring other defensive options at his disposal in the likes of SC Kiyovu defender Aimable Nsabimana, APR duo Prince Buregeya and Clement Niyigena and Faustin Usengimana who currently plays in Kuwait.
He may be hay with their performance at their respective clubs in Rwanda Premier League, but Ferrer hinted that he intends to scout new defenders playing out of the country as he looks to create more defensive solutions.
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"I'm also happy with defenders of the Rwandan league. So I hope it won't be a big problem, but we must wait next month and scout new players too. We are working on that for sure," he said.
Amavubi stars have failed many editions since the last time in 2004 and now will try their luck once again to see if they can again raise the Rwandan flag in Ivory Coast in 2023.
In their upcoming fixtures, Rwanda will play return games against Senegal and Mozambique, and then two matches against Benin.
Ferrer has a big task to qualify Rwanda to the AFCON 2023 for the first time since 2004.
He recently admitted that winning away matches in Africa is very difficult but remains confident that a qualification is still on the cards as long as his side win all their home games.
While he is confident his side can win both games against Benin, Rwanda would finally be dreaming of an AFCON qualification with history showing that no team, in the last 30 years, has ever managed to earn 12 points from group stages and fail to qualify for the finals.
