Ratomir Djukovic is proud of his Rwandan side's performance

The Amavubi lost 2-1 to hosts Tunisia in the opening match of the African Cup of Nations.

Rwanda's debut in the competition comes 10 years after the brutal civil strife which cost millions of lives in their homeland.

Djukovic's team gave their hosts a huge scare before the Tunisians' superior quality on the ball eventually told.

"Our guys showed all of Africa and the world that they are a team and that they are united," said Djukovic.

"I think the people back home will be very proud of what we have achieved.

"We are also proud that we are playing in the Cup of Nations for the first time and to score a goal as well is very important for such a poor and small nation."

We made mistakes but we are satisfied with the way we played Ratomir Djukovic

The Rwandans made up for their lack of technical ability with enthusiasm and some hard tackling.

Their tough approach to the game however wasn't appreciated by referee Evehe Divine of Cameroon who booked five of their players and sent off Abdul Sibomana.

Djukovic was also very pleased with the performance of his goalkeeper Ramadhani Nkunzingoma who pulled off several great saves to keep out the Tunisians in the opening 25 minutes of the match.

"Our team is very young and younger than the rest of the teams here and we are playing without any international experience," said Djukovic.

"Yes, we made mistakes but we are satisfied with the way we played.

"Tunisia are a very strong team, they are the hosts and have many players from European clubs, their technical staff is also excellent.

"I think we still have a chance to make it to the next round.

"We have two more matches against DR Congo and Guinea. We know a little about Congo but nothing about Guinea.

"We play them on Wednesday and we will have to find tapes of them so we can study them."