Rwanda’s head coach Jonny McKinstry will have one and not two assistants ahead of the 2016 African Championship of Nations (CHAN) in the East African nation from January 17 to February 7.
This is after the Federation of Rwandan Football Association (Ferwafa) and McKinstry decided to relieve Vincent Mashami of his duties last week.
The Irishman set to work with Jimmy Mulisa as his only deputy and Ibrahim Mugisha as the goalkeeping coach.
In a telephone interview with Rwanda’s New Times, McKinstry confirmed that he requested Mashami to step aside for ‘nothing personal’ but for the best interest of the team.
Although the 29-year old declined to give the exact reasons why he didn’t want to continue working with Mashami.
All the specific reasons were discussed in private with Mashami and the senior management team. Like I said before, the decision was taken in the best interest of the team. I prefer to remain with one assistant coach (Jimmy Mulisa), we won’t need a replacement for Mashami.
Mashami who is now referred to as a former Amavubi assistant coach also expressed his disappointment in the manner he was dismissed from the national team.
I was summoned for a meeting last week on Friday with head coach Johnny McKinstry, Ministry of Sports and Culture, and FERWAFA officials. In the meeting, I was told that the head coach would not need my services any more.
Mashami later had a meeting with McKinstry where the latter explained the reasons why he didn’t want to continue working with the former Rwandan International as his deputy, reasons Mashami insists weren’t convincing.
The development came at the time when Rwanda are preparing to host the fourth edition of the CHAN finals from January 17 to February 7 and will be played in 3 cities in Kigali, Rubavu and Huye.
2016 CHAN Groups
Group A – Rwanda, Gabon, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire
Group B – DR Congo, Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia
Group C – Tunisia, Nigeria Niger, Guinea
Group D – Zimbabwe, Mali, Uganda, Zambia