Results
El-Merreikh (1) Vs Rayon Sport (0)
APR (0) Vs Vital’O (2)
Burundi’s League giants Vital’O Football Club are the 2013 Cecafa-Kagame cup Champions.
The Burundians outsmarted three-time champions APR of Rwanda by beating them 2-0 in an epic final on Monday night at the jam-packed El Fasher Stadium here in North Darfur State.
This is Vital’O’s first ever regional title despite being the perennial Burundi representatives in the 39-year-old tournament.
Hamis Tambwe and Deo Ndayishimiye scored the two unanswered goals for Vital’O. Tambwe emerged the tournament’s best player and top scorer at six goals. His performance earned him a trophy donated by the host Governor, Mohammed Kibir.
This becomes the fourth time, Rwandese army side APR are failing to win a final game in this championship out of Kigali. In 1996 they lost 2-1 to Simba SC away in Dar es Salaam, lost 3-0 to Tusker in Nairobi in 2000 and SC Villa beat them on the same margin in Mwanza in 2005. All the three champions they have won were staged in Kigali.
In the classification game played earlier in the day, another Rwandese side Rayon Sport lost the Bronze Medal to a fired-up El Fasher club, El- Merreikh, who won the third place play-off 1-0. The Darfurians walked off with a cash prize of US$ 10,000.
This preceded the Final where a second half brace of headed goals gave Vital’O the title and emphasised the country’s recent good football performance on the international stage.
Many of the players in the Vital’O side include those that knocked out Kenya after a two-leg tie in the CHAN [African Nations Champion] qualifiers. Burundi are in the final round of the 2015 CHAN qualifiers where they will take on Sudan for a Cecafa region’s slot.
It was a colourful closing ceremony that saw a number of fireworks going up in space. Vital’O returns home with US$ 30,000 in prize money while APR takes US$ 20,000. Rwanda President Gen. Paul Kagame offered this prize money.
