Cranes v Rwanda

By Daniel Saire in Kigali Rwanda A 0 Kenya 0 THE Uganda Cranes were yesterday drawn against hosts Rwanda A in the quarterfinals of the CECAFA challenge cup. This was after the home team fought out a goalless draw against another East African side Harambe Stars of Kenya Saturday. Both teams equaled at seven points but Kenya led the group on a superior goal difference. Rwandan president Major General Paul Kagame was among a capacity crowd that freely entered Amahoro stadium to watch Rwanda's two teams in action. Rwanda B also fought out a 1-all draw against Ethiopia in the first first match. The knock-out stage starts today with Kenya taking on Eritrea before Tanzania tussles it out against Rwanda B at 8.20pm. Kenya will be meeting Eritrea for the second time in as many days. They clashed in the second match of group A and SC Villa striker Maurice Sunguti scored in Harambe Stars' 2-1 win. Assistant coach Jacob Ghost Mulee is expecting a tough encounter. “It is difficult to beat a team twice in one tournament and nothing can be taken for granted,” he said. Kenya players were boosted with a promise of Ksh50000 (Ush1.1m) if they lift the trophy that has eluded them for many years. This, with a towering height over the small bodied Horn of Africa team, will combine to see them through the next stage. Eritrea joined this stage by virtue of being a second best loser with a single point after Uganda. The Cranes who lost two of the three preliminary matches against Tanzania and Burundi return into action tomorrow in the last quarterfinal game at 8.20pm. Their game will be preceded by the Ethiopia-Burundi encounter. The Kenya-Eritrea winner will meet the winner between Tanzania and Rwanda at the semi-finals. While The winner of the Ethiopia-Burundi encounter will play the best between Uganda and Rwanda A on Thursday. Both Zanzibar and Djibouti went out without getting a single point.