A brace from Khamis Mcha gave Zanzibar a shock 2-1 win against last year’s finalists Rwanda to take them top of group C and seriously boost their chances of reaching the quarter-finals.
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| Khamis Mcha (right) celebrates his opening goal. |
Salum Nassor made 4 changes to the starting line-up and it had an instant impact as his side took the lead in only the 8th minute. Rwanda goalkeeper Jean-Claude Ndori completely missed a simple clearance and Zanzibar striker Khamis Mcha, scorer of 4 goals at the 2012 VIVA World Cup, was on hand to coolly slot home. The Rwandan defence was looking shaky and the islanders nearly cashed in on 20 minutes after Ndori dropped a Mcha free-kick, but Abdi Kassim couldn’t steer the rebound at goal. The FIFA side then found their rhythm and twice in the space of four minutes before the interval Jerome Sina was unlucky to see his efforts somewhat fortuitously repelled by Zanzibar ‘keeper Ali Mwadini. Rwanda started the second-half the stronger side but it was the non-FIFA team who doubled their lead in the 62nd minute. Kassim split the defence open with a superb through ball and Mcha showed great composure to roll it beyond Ndori for his 2nd goal. However with 10 minutes to go the Rwandans halved the deficit when substitute Dady Birori headed home a Haruna Niyonzima cross. Despite this a late siege never materialised and Zanzibar held on for all 3 points.
A win against Malawi in their final game would be enough to secure an appearance in the knockout round for the 3rd consecutive finals. The game kicks off at 18:00 (15:00 U.K.). Updates will be available via our Twitter service @NonFIFAFootball.
Match information –
Score: Rwanda 1 – 2 Zanzibar
Goals: Rwanda – Dady Birori 80’. Zanzibar - Khamis Mcha 8’, 62’.
Zanzibar XI: Mwadini; Haroud, Said, Haji, Morris; Makame, Gulam, Kassim, Abdalla [Othman 90’]; Mcha, Juma.
Salum Nassor made 4 changes to the starting line-up and it had an instant impact as his side took the lead in only the 8th minute. Spor haberleri
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