BEVERLY HILLS, May 18, (THEWILL) – These are tough times for two-time African champions of continental football, the People’s Elephant of Aba, Enyimba FC, Nigeria’s sole representatives at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation Cup and no one feels the pressure of the times than their beleaguered coach Fatai Osho.
After their herculean table-topping feat at this year’s competition saw them qualify for the knockout stages, the Aba-based football club saw themselves overwhelming outstaged by their Egyptian opposition.
The first leg of their quarter-final fixture against Pyramids FC, the fourth-placed side of the Egyptian Premier League, ended in a massive 4-1 loss at the 30 June Stadium on Sunday, even though the Nigerian outfit started the match brilliantly and opened the scoring early.
Osho took a tactical approach to clarifying how it all went wrong for his side given their initial ascendancy in the quarter-final fixture. The former Remo Stars coach said that his team lost their shape and their discipline at a key moment of the game and this was exploited by the opponent for their loss.
The Egyptian club took control of the game with an Ibrahim Adel brace after Victor Chukwuma Mbaoma gave Enyimba the lead inside the first 60 seconds and Ramadon Sobhi levelled the scores to give themselves a good shot at reaching the semi-finals ahead of the reverse fixture at the Enyimba International Stadium in Aba next week.
At one goal apiece at the end of the first period, the match seemed evenly balanced but poised to go either way based on each side’s opportunity and creativity but as Osho revealed, the People’s Elephant lost shape after the interval and were taken down by the Pyramids as a consequence.
Osho explained why: “We had our game plan and going into the game they stuck to it. We saw a lot of promises in the first half. The second half we lost it when we started noticing a lot of tiredness.
“They [the players] started playing out of shape and exposed themselves a lot.”
Given that outcome, Osho remained upbeat about the team’s chances to qualify with his insistence the tie is still alive, as is their resolve to turn around the results from the first leg when they clash again on Sunday, May 23 on Enyimba’s own turf, which has truly been the team’s stomping grounds since the Cup competition began.
Osho added: “We have to let them know that it’s not over yet. We have to play and score and not concede; if we can do that we have a hope. A situation where we can score one or two goals, that brings hope and we have to work on their psyche.”
However, if they can pull through once again, it will require another heavy-lifting not too dissimilar from what they had to pull off against the South Africa side Orlando Pirates in the final group fixture of the group stages. They will also have to learn to win away from home too to have any chance of another continental victory.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
