The coach of the Rwandan national team, Stephen Constantine, expressed great dissatisfaction and disappointment following the decision to cancel the friendly matches that were scheduled for his team during their training camp in Marrakech. This was after a decision issued by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation to cancel several friendly matches that were programmed during the international break.
Constantine’s statements came as his team’s delegation was preparing to leave Morocco and head to Egypt to continue preparations for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, after the program for which the team traveled to the kingdom evaporated.
Constantine said that the Rwandan national team was surprised by the cancellation of the matches they were relying on to prepare for upcoming competitions, expressing regret over what happened during the camp held in Marrakech.
He added, “Things did not go as we hoped here in Marrakech for reasons we do not clearly understand. The matches we came to play were canceled, and this is frustrating for us because we were preparing to play two friendly matches.”
The coach explained that the Rwandan team was forced to completely change its training camp program, thanking the officials of the Rwandan Football Federation and the Ministry of Sports in his country for successfully securing the team’s transfer to Egypt to continue training instead of returning directly to Kigali.
Constantine confirmed that returning to Rwanda without conducting any preparatory activities was not a suitable option, adding that the coaching staff needed to utilize the international break to work with the players and play warm-up matches to give the team a better opportunity to prepare.
He also revealed that the Rwandan federation attempted to find alternative solutions by communicating with the national teams of Uganda and Tanzania to play friendly matches, but those attempts were unsuccessful due to circumstances specific to each team.
Media reports indicated that the Royal Moroccan Football Federation informed the teams present in Morocco at the beginning of June about the cancellation of the scheduled friendly matches, in a step that the same sources linked to precautionary measures and health concerns related to the spread of the Ebola virus in some countries of East and Central Africa.
While the Rwandan national team continues its training in Egypt, the state of dissatisfaction expressed by its coach remains a prominent feature of a camp that ended in disappointment after the cancellation of matches, which was the main objective of their presence in Morocco.
