CAF Confederation Cup
ALGERIAN CHALLENGE DOES NOT SCARE US, SAYS RANGERS’ GBENGA OGUNBOTE
Although Nigeria flagbearers, Rangers found it relatively easy overpowering Ethiopia’s Defence Force in the CAF Confederation Cup, it is envisaged that the challenge from Algeria’s Union Sportive Medinat Bel Abbes (USMBA) will be stiffer when they clash this weekend.
Only last month, Rangers completed a double with a 2-0 home win and 3-1 away win against Defence FC of Ethiopia in the Preliminary Round which came on the back of that stunning win of the Nigeria national cup on penalties when they overcame a 3-0 deficit to tie scores at 3-3 at the expense of KanoPillars to qualify for this year’s CAF Confederation Cup.
“ Our comeback in some recent matches is not a question of strategy rather we
always play to our strength,” Rangers’ trainer Gbenga Ogunbote told cafonline.com
“ We sometimes conceded cheap goals but we don’t give up easily especially when we realised that we are better than the opposing team.
“ I feel very great after winning both the home and away match against Defence FC of Lesotho in the last round. After the first leg, there were criticisms here that we didn’t play well.
“ But we went over there (Addis Ababa) for the second leg and got an away win.These victories home and away confirmed our superiority and I want to give thanks to God for that.”
Yet speaking against the background of recent poor performances of many Nigerian clubs on the continent, Ogunbote surmised Rangers must show sterner stuff against USMBA who easily dismissed Lisor FC of Liberia 4-1 on aggregate last month.
“Though many Nigerians teams have not done well against North African teams recently, I believe there’s always a turnaround in life,” noted Ogunbote who lost narrowly to Club Africain of Tunisia at the semi-final stage of the2011 CAF Confederation Cup during his spell in charge of Sunshine Stars of Akure.
“We need to work harder in order to get very far in this competition; we shall
do our best and make sure that they (USMBA) do not stop us at this stage.”
Incidentally, Rangers are yet to progress within the trophy range in four previous CAF Confederation Cup attempts and just last year, the Flying Antelopes were halted in their flight by ZESCO United of Zambia in the play-off round.
However, Ogunbote offered on Rangers’ preparedness this term: “We are aware of the efforts put into the team before we secured the qualification to play in this competition but this is yet to be our dream team. All the same, the resilience and never-say-die attitude of the players; and above all, the grace of God have taken us to this stage.
“My last record in this same competition was reaching the semi-finals with Sunshine of Akure. I will be happy if I can go a better further with Rangers and I’m not just thinking but that is my prayers.
“Football is a team sport and I can’t begin to single out a single player. My understanding of the game is that we are a team and team means ‘together everyone achieve much’.
“So, our collective contribution as a team is very important if we want to go
far in this competition.”
Meanwhile, Rangers will host USMBA this weekend in this Round of 1/16th first
leg at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu while the reverse fixture holds a
week later in Algiers and the aggregate winner over the two legs will progress
to the Group Stage.
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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