English
Kinyarwanda
Ten-man Police Football Club defeated the reigning champions APR 1-0 in their opening match of the Heroism tournament played at Amahoro stadium, on Saturday.
The law enforcers went a man down in the 43 minute after goalkeeper fouled APR’s Martin Twizeyimana right outside the box.
Despite being a man less, it did not break the spirit; two minutes later in the dying minute of the first half, Police Football Club secured their lonely goal through defender, Hussein Sibomana.
A Police counter-attack secured a corner in the 45th minute of the first half, and a poor clearing by APR was a golden chance for Sibomana to put his team in the lead.
The second half seemed like a make or break with attacks and counterattacks. Several chances by the reigning champions – APR – yielded no results. There were few chances through which Police could have doubled the lead.
Nonetheless, the final whistle proved the combination of resilience, teamwork and boldness in defence to register the hard fought and deserved three points.
The top four teams from last season’s Azam Rwanda Premier League are competing in this year’s Heroes Cup tournament. They include league champions Rayon Sports, Police FC, who finished second, third-placed APR FC and AS Kigali.
Rayon Sport and AS Kigali, also drew 1-1.
The tournament is played on robin round format. It means all four teams will play each other and the winner will be the team with the highest points or goal difference in case they tie on points.
Police’s next opponent will be Rayon Sport in Wednesday before taking on AS Kigali on Heroes Day, February 1.
