Burundi’s Intamba mu Rugamba grasped a late goal to take a 1-0 victory against Tanzania’s Taifa Stars last Sunday at Mkapa stadium in Dar es Salaam.
With less than 10mins to play Burundi’s ace Saido Ntibazonkiza took a long rage effort that curled into the top right corner of the post leaving Tanzania’s goalkeeper helpless.
Burundi Shirt No.10 Ntibazonkiza was one of the country’s talisman left out of the squad during the African Cup of Nations tournament that took place in Egypt last year, the tournament saw Burundi participating for the first time in the tournament’s history.
“This is a much deserved victory we all played well and dedicated towards winning and so this is kind of revenge after they defeated us in the World Cup qualifiers,” said Burundi’s talisman Saido Berahino.
Burundi last played Taifa Stars in September last year in a two legged match of the World Cup Qualifiers with both teams going for a 1-1 draw in both legs.
Taifa Stars were able to qualify to the next round of World Cup qualifiers with 4-3 in the penalty shootout.
“Yes Ntibazonkiza has shown his worth and we hope that from now on he will be included in the squad,” said Jean Noel Nikobigomba a football fan in Bujumbura.
The match that made two teams lock horns last Sunday is part of a friendly match ahead of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Burundi’s national team is expected to lock horns with Mauritania’s Al-Murabitun in November for the AFCON qualifiers Group E game.
Intamba is yet to gain a single point after two games with its last visit in Bangui (Benin) losing to Benin 2-0 on November 13th.2019, currently Burundi rocks the bottom of Group E with Morocco, Mauritania and Central African Republic leading the group respectively.
The 2021 AFCON is the 33rd edition of the African Cup of Nations the biennial international men’s football championship of Africa organized by Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The tournament is expected to be hosted in Cameroon, AFCON was originally scheduled to kick-off in June-July 2021 but CAF rescheduled it for January 2020 due to unfavorable climate conditions.
However in June 2020 CAF postponed the tournament for the third time to January 2022 following the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to more than one million people losing their lives worldwide.