{"id":121206,"date":"2026-03-27T15:04:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:34:29","slug":"constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team","title":{"rendered":"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Stephen Constantine says the Rwanda national football team squad assembled for the FIFA Series 2026 shows promise, despite having only a few days together in camp.<\/p>\n

Constantine\u2019s first test in his second spell in charge of Amavubi will come against Grenada national football team on Friday, March 27, at Amahoro Stadium.<\/p>\n

The two sides are in Group A alongside Estonia national football team and Kenya national football team, who will co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Uganda and Tanzania.<\/p>\n

A number of new faces have been included in Constantine\u2019s squad for the tournament. Among them is Hakim Sahabo, who returns to the national team after a nine-month absence following his exclusion by former head coach Adel Amrouche in June 2025.<\/p>\n

Other debut call-ups include David Niyo, Mickels Joy Slayd, Karl Matteo Ndayishimiye\u2014brother of Tresor Ndayishimiye\u2014as well as Mickels Leroy Jacques and Hugo Bigirimana.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the clash with Grenada, Constantine expressed confidence in his players and hinted at a fresh direction for the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re working as hard as they can. I don\u2019t like to make predictions, but I think you\u2019re going to see a different team from what you have seen before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis squad was not selected by me, and it is difficult for players to show everything they have in just two or three days. But we will put the best eleven on the pitch and take it one game at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team captain Djihad Bizimana echoed the coach\u2019s optimism, highlighting the positive atmosphere in camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I have seen in the dressing room, morale is high and the players are ready to fight. Whoever starts will give their all\u2014it\u2019s do or die for us,\u201d Bizimana said.<\/p>\n

Rwanda heads into the tournament under pressure following a disappointing 2025 campaign, but the skipper insists the focus is firmly on the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident the team will have a good run and a successful FIFA Series. We are also learning a lot\u2014the coach has introduced new tactics and strategies to help us win matches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on the same day, Kenya will face Estonia at 18:00 CAT at Amahoro Stadium.<\/p>\n

The winners of the group matches will progress to the final, while the remaining teams will contest classification matches to conclude the series.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Stephen Constantine says the Rwanda national football team squad assembled for the FIFA Series 2026 shows promise, despite having only a few days together in camp. Constantine\u2019s first test in his second spell in charge of Amavubi will come against Grenada national football team on Friday, March 27, at Amahoro Stadium. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":121205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[1606,8847,758,7109],"class_list":["post-121206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-amavubi","tag-fifa-series","tag-rwanda","tag-stephen-constantine"],"yoast_head":"\nConstantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stephen Constantine says the Rwanda national football team squad assembled for the FIFA Series 2026 shows promise, despi ...\" \/>\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\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stephen Constantine says the Rwanda national football team squad assembled for the FIFA Series 2026 shows promise, despi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-27T15:04:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-27T15:34:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"659\" \/>\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\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-27T15:04:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-27T15:34:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team\"},\"wordCount\":404,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Amavubi\",\"FIFA Series\",\"Rwanda\",\"Stephen Constantine\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team\",\"name\":\"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team - Rwanda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-27T15:04:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-27T15:34:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Stephen Constantine says the Rwanda national football team squad assembled for the FIFA Series 2026 shows promise, despi ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":659,\"caption\":\"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\",\"name\":\"Rwanda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team - Rwanda","description":"Stephen Constantine says the Rwanda national football team squad assembled for the FIFA Series 2026 shows promise, despi ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team","og_description":"Stephen Constantine says the Rwanda national football team squad assembled for the FIFA Series 2026 shows promise, despi ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team","og_site_name":"Rwanda","article_published_time":"2026-03-27T15:04:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-27T15:34:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":659,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team","datePublished":"2026-03-27T15:04:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-27T15:34:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team"},"wordCount":404,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg","keywords":["Amavubi","FIFA Series","Rwanda","Stephen Constantine"],"articleSection":["all news","Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team","name":"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team - Rwanda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-27T15:04:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-27T15:34:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Stephen Constantine says the Rwanda national football team squad assembled for the FIFA Series 2026 shows promise, despi ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/03\/sm_1774613030.091088.jpg","width":1000,"height":659,"caption":"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/constantine-highlights-positives-in-new-amavubi-team#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Constantine Highlights Positives in New Amavubi Team"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/","name":"Rwanda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121211,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121206\/revisions\/121211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}