‘My players lacked fighting spirit; I hate to lose, and I am not a loser’: Amrouche says Rwanda gifted goals to Nigeria

Rwanda head coach Adel Amrouche expressed his anger at the way the Amavubi Stars lost to Nigeria in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying game against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

As reported by the New Times of Rwanda, the Algerian coach of the team ‘was not impressed that his players gifted Nigeria two cheap goals’ scored in the first half by Victor Osimhen.

‘We gifted them two goals. Imagine conceding a goal in the 10th minute and I had to change my game plan,’ said the obviously furious Algerian who was appointed less than a month ago.

‘My players lacked fighting spirit. I hate to lose. I am not a loser. What hurt me most is that the president of the nation [Paul Kagame] who was there. Look at the fans who came to support us. If some of the players don’t improve, they will go because new players are coming,’ he lamented and has shifted his focus to their matchday six fixture against Lesotho.

‘That is football, we have lost. We must quickly forget about it and get a win on Tuesday against Lesotho.’