CAF Confederation Cup
Advantage Rivers United!
BY SAMMY WEJINYA.
Nigeria’s sole survivor in Africa’s inter-clubs competitions, Rivers United, continue the battle to get to the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup by having a 2-0 win over visiting Rayon Sports of Rwanda on Sunday.
A stupendous goal by Ivoirian marksman, Guy Kuemian was the highlight of Rivers United’s 2-0 victory over Rayon Sports in a CAF Confederation Cup game decided in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
The Nigerian club won courtesy of Kuemian’s extraordinary finish early in the second half and Emeka Atuloma’s sweetly-struck effort just before half time to put themselves in control of the playoff tie.
United came into the game in fine form following successive wins in domestic competition against ABS FC and Abia Warriors.
The confidence that stemmed from those wins was evident in their aggressive start against Rayon Sports on a hot and humid day at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium.
Emeka Ogbugh should have scored in the fourth minute when he turned his marker inside out only to drag his effort inches wide from eight yards.
Six minutes later, the ‘Pride of Rivers’ enjoyed a gilt-edged opening but the chance to get an early breakthrough went up in smoke as Bolaji Sakin hit his effort straight at the Rayon Sports goalkeeper, Ndayishinye Eric.
The visitors were meanwhile looking assured in possession, menacing in the final third and were unlucky not to score on two occasions inside the opening 25 minutes.
Sunday Rotimi was the saviour for United both times and in the first instance on 12 minutes, his heroic block saved the hosts embarrassment following a poorly-executed offside trap.
The veteran goalkeeper was in exemplary form again in the 23rd minute as he saved well to deny the dangerous Kwizera Pierrot at the second time of asking from 25 odd yards.
Those missed opportunities would prove fatal for Gikundiro (nickname of Rayon Sports) as United took the lead against the run of play in the 29th minute through Atuloma who had been booked just moments earlier for an act of petulance.
The defensive midfielder timed his run to perfection to meet a cross with a brilliant half volley that left Ndayishinye with little chance.
Kuemian rounded off the scoring with his best ever goal for United, out of nothing, to underline his status as one of the most extravagantly-gifted marksmen in Nigeria’s top football division.
The Ivoirian came close to completing his brace and giving United an even bigger margin of victory late on following a howler from Ndayishinye but lost his footing at the opportune moment.
Technical Manager of Rivers United, Stanley Eguma spoke to the club’s official website, www.riversunitedfc.com.ng after the game.
“It was a highly tactical game and I am pleased with our win in the end.
“However, this is not the time to celebrate as we still have to see out the second leg,” he said.
Nothing has been decided yet as the two sides meet again on April 22 at imposing 30,000 capacity Amahoro Stadium, Kigali for the return fixture.
The prize for the victors, over two legs, is a place in the group stage of the competition.
CAF Confederation Cup
CAF adjudges Morocco’s Youssef Mehri’s goal as the fastest in football history
Moroccan club, Renaissance de Berkane, beat their Algerian counterparts, CS Constantine, 4-0 in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals at the weekend.
The game got off to a dream start for the Moroccan club as it took Youssef Mehri less than a minute to open the scoring in the big win against the Algerians.
Officially, the goal is recorded to have been scored after 13 seconds.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), CAF remarks: “Youssef Mehri goes straight into the history books. The RS Berkane striker scores the fastest goal ever scored in the CAF Cup.”
A deeper search by Sports Village Square indicates that a Nigerian player, Paul Onuachu, had previously scored a faster goal, but not in a CAF Cup duel.
The basketball player-like footballer scored his first international goal in a 1-0 defeat of Egypt on 26 March 2019.
The goal inflicted Nigeria’s first defeat on Egypt in 29 years. But more significant was the timing of the goal. Onuachu, within eight seconds of kick-off, undoubtedly entered the record books as the second fastest goal in international football records after that of Germany’s Lukas Podolsk, who scored after six seconds in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013.
Fans had hardly settled down at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba for the Nigeria versus Egypt match when Onuachu released a thunderous shot that turned out to be the match’s decider.
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The Renaissance Sportive de Berkane delegation will travel to Algeria this Friday to face CS Constantine in the CAF Cup. Tension may be building up for the potentially explosive confrontation that could have a build-up from last year’s fixtures of the Moroccan club and another Algerian outfit, USM Algiers, in the CAF Confederation Cup.
A Moroccan news outlet, Sport.le360, reports that a Tunisian airline will operate the direct flight between Oujda-Angad Airport, which is located about 12 kilometres north of Oujda and about 600 kilometres northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border and Constantine Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport.
Last year, political differences between Morocco and Algeria scuttled similar semi-final clashes between clubs of both countries.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday ruled in favour of the Algerian football federation in a row over a map of Morocco on shirts worn by Renaissance Berkane in the 2024 CAF Confederation Cup.
Algerian club USM Alger were kicked out of last year’s competition after both legs of their semi-final against Berkane were cancelled because of a diplomatic dispute.
Neither match took place as USMA and the Algerian authorities objected to a map of Morocco on the Berkane shirts which included Western Sahara.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with North African neighbours Morocco in 2021, partly over the Western Sahara issue.
The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks the territory’s independence.
The Confederation of African Football awarded Berkane a 3-0 victory for both legs of the semi-final.
CAF at the time responded to an appeal by the Algerian FA by ruling in favour of Berkane, saying the club had been wearing the same jerseys since the start of the tournament.
But the Algerian FA took the case to sport’s highest court in Switzerland, which determined that the shirts in question were “contrary to CAF regulations, as they display a territorial map that is of a political nature.”
“The image of a map of Morocco including Western Sahara on the shirts of RS Berkane depicts a message, a demonstration or propaganda of a political nature as it represents the assertion of a territorial dispute that is contested and still unresolved as of today,” CAS said in a statement.
“By the laws of the game of the International Football Association Board, it is prohibited to convey any content of a political nature on all equipment, including shirts.”
CAS added that the initial decision by CAF to “maintain the approval of the shirts is annulled”, but the court said that it would have no effect on the results of the tournament.
Egypt’s Zamalek beat Berkane on away goals in the final.
-AFP
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