September 12, (THEWILL) – The pair of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs licensed to represent the country in the season’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League are in action on Sunday in a set of 1st preliminary round 1st leg clashes according to the calendar of fixtures for the continental competition.
Rivers United FC are away to Tanzania’s Young Africans, affectionately popular locally as “Yanga”, in their first leg at the 60,000 capacity Benjamin Mkapa stadium, while Akwa United FC are up against CR Belouizdad of Algeria at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo.
As THEWILL reported, in keeping with the health and safety regulations CAF had allowed only 10,000 fans for the Akwa United versus Belouizdad fixture though the stadium has a 30,000 capacity stand. The continental football governing body also appointed Dr Salami Onimisi to serve as the CAF COVID-19 Hygiene Officer during the match.
Kennedy Boboye, head coach of Akwa United was optimistic about the chances of the Nigerian league champions against their Algerian opponents on Sunday. Speaking at the pre-match conference in the Nest of Champions, however, he expressed slight worries about fatigue due to the long NPFL season, which they finished as champions.
For the Belouizdad side, coach Beketi Karim admitted to knowing little about Akwa United but was rational enough to concede that having won the Nigerian league, they were a side not to be underated, even if he demonstrated a firm belief in the ability of his charges to deliver.
The coach revealed that they were short-handed because the team lost two key players ahead of the tie but it did not change his optimism of the available squad doing the job.
Karim was gracious enough to also commend the hospitality accorded them upon arrival while describing the Godswill Akpabio Stadium as one of the best in Africa.
In the other tie, the Tanzanians were expecting a tough encounter from Rivers United as most African teams do when facing Nigerian opposition. However, the Yanga players were upbeat about their own abilities and planned to utilise their home advantage in the first leg.
Nesreddine Nabi, the Yanga side head coach displayed this confidence when he said that the team was looking forward to a win in the encounter. Part of their preparation included about a week-long camping in Morocco. Their training focused on scoring goals to improve their chances against Rivers.
Nabi believed that victory against the Nigerian side was very crucial for their qualification to the group stages of the Champions League, which the Tanzania club considers as their objective. And, they believe the more goals they have at home, the higher their margin considering that the return fixture comes up next week.
The coach was not unaware of the historical statistics that did not favour his side as the records show that Young Africans were yet to eliminate a Nigerian team in both Confederation Cup and African Champions League. But they were bent on being the generation that changed that.
Nabi said: “We are determined to record the best results possible on home ground. We know we are playing one of the new teams in the competition, but we have done all necessary preparations ahead of the encounter. We need to do our best and qualify for the next round.”
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.
