Rwanda’s hope of appearing at the 2017 Afcon Under-20 hit a major blow on Sunday after losing 1-0 to the young Pharaohs of Egypt at the Amahoro stadium in Kigali.
The Junior wasps had earlier benefitted a decision by Caf to overturn Uganda’s Victory for using an ineligible player James Ahebwa and therefore proceeding to the second round.
However, the East Africans face an uphill task in the one leg away in Cairo following the home loss.
The Egyptians made use of a 48th minute counter attack from a long ball into the Wasps third that landed onto Taher Mohamed Ahmed who did a great beating his marker Nsabimana before shooting beyond Hategikimana’s reach.
The return leg is scheduled in a fortnight’s time during the weekend of 10th-12th June in Cairo.
Rwanda need to overturn the result with a win of not less than two goal-margin or replicate Egypt’s result and head for post-match penalties.
The final tournament kicks off in February 2017 in Zambia where the semi finalists qualify for Fifa Under-20 world cup.