{"id":116703,"date":"2025-12-03T17:12:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T17:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak"},"modified":"2025-12-03T17:21:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T17:21:56","slug":"novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak","title":{"rendered":"Novi\u0107 faces challenge to end Al Merrikh\u2019s losing streak"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Wednesday, December 3<\/p>\n<p>Rutsiro vs Al-Merrikh (Umuganda Stadium, 3:00PM)<\/p>\n<p>Gasogi United vs Al Hilal (Kigali Stadium, 6:00PM)<\/p>\n<p>Al Merrikh head coach Darko Novic\u0301 faces a daunting challenge as he looks to reverse the club\u2019s poor run of form when they visit Rutsiro FC in their next Rwanda Premier League fixture on Wednesday at Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu.<\/p>\n<p>The Sudanese side has been struggling in recent weeks, falling to back-to-back defeats against Gorilla FC (0\u20131) and Bugesera FC (0\u20131).<\/p>\n<p>Novic\u0301 acknowledged that his players have suffered from a dip in confidence but remains optimistic that improvements made in training will help spark a turnaround.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened in the last two games can\u2019t happen again. We played good football but failed to score. We have worked on that, and we must use our chances and avoid giving opponents opportunities to hurt us,\u201d the Serbian coach said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am building a team that can challenge big teams, and even though many of my players are on national team duty, we still need to find solutions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Al Merrikh have managed just one win in their past three league outings, a run that has placed the team under increasing pressure to bounce back.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Rutsiro FC will be without head coach Radjab Bizumuremyi, who is currently suspended due to poor performance. They sit 16th with six points, having won only one of their last five matches.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Gasogi United will host Al Hilal at Kigali Pele Stadium. Al Hilal head into the match fresh from a 1\u20131 draw with FC Lupopo in the CAF Champions League.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Rwanda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. Wednesday, December 3 Rutsiro vs Al-Merrikh (Umuganda Stadium, 3:00PM) Gasogi United vs Al Hilal (Kigali Stadium, 6:00PM) Al Merrikh head coach Darko Novic\u0301 faces a daunting challenge as he looks to reverse the club\u2019s poor run of form when they visit Rutsiro FC in their next Rwanda Premier League fixture on Wednesday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":116702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[8711,6057,5562,758,7024],"class_list":["post-116703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-al-merrikh","tag-darko-novic","tag-rutsiro-fc","tag-rwanda","tag-rwanda-premier-league-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Novi\u0107 faces challenge to end Al Merrikh\u2019s losing streak - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wednesday, December 3 Rutsiro vs Al-Merrikh (Umuganda Stadium, 3:00PM) Gasogi United vs Al Hilal (Kigali Stadium, 6:00 ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Novi\u0107 faces challenge to end Al Merrikh\u2019s losing streak\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wednesday, December 3 Rutsiro vs Al-Merrikh (Umuganda Stadium, 3:00PM) Gasogi United vs Al Hilal (Kigali Stadium, 6:00 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-03T17:12:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-03T17:21:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/12\/sm_1764769880.332136.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"546\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Novi\u0107 faces challenge to end Al Merrikh\u2019s losing streak\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-03T17:12:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-03T17:21:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak\"},\"wordCount\":283,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/12\/sm_1764769880.332136.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Al-Merrikh\",\"Darko Novic\",\"Rutsiro FC\",\"Rwanda\",\"Rwanda Premier League.\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/novic-faces-challenge-to-end-al-merrikhs-losing-streak\",\"name\":\"Novi\u0107 faces challenge to end Al Merrikh\u2019s losing streak - 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