CAF Confederation Cup

ALGERIAN CHALLENGE DOES NOT SCARE US, SAYS RANGERS’ GBENGA OGUNBOTE

Published

5 years ago

December 11, 2018

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

Morocco’s RS Berkane get to Confederation Cup final with record aggregate scoreline but without kicking the ball!

Published

1 day ago

May 3, 2024

Kunle Solaja

The CAF Interclub Competitions and Management of the Club Licensing System Committee has awarded the unplayed Confederation Cup second leg semi-final fixture between RS Berkane and USM Alger to Morocco’s RS Berkane.

The same decision was taken on the unplayed first leg match in Algeria. Thus, without having to kick the ball, RS Berkane moved to the final matches, technically with a 6-0 aggregate, the highest semi-final scorelines since the competition began 20 years ago.

According to the CAF Inter-clubs committee, the case against Algeria’s USM Alger has been passed to the Disciplinary Board of CAF for possible additional sanctions.

CAF Confederation Cup

USM Alger’s coach resigns over jersey controversy

Published

1 day ago

May 3, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Spanish coach Juan Carlos Garrido has announced his resignation from coaching Algerian club USM Alger, Moroccan channel Medi1 TV reported. Garrido made the announcement in an exclusive statement to the channel.

Garrido’s decision comes after the African Football Confederation’s club committee announced the elimination of USM Alger from the CAF Confederation Cup.

The Algerian team decided to withdraw from the second leg game of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-final against Morocco’s RS Berkane last week.

As a result, CAF penalized USM Alger with a forfeit, awarding RS Berkane a 3-0 victory by default and securing their place in the tournament’s final against Egyptian club Zamalek.

This comes in the wake of a controversy that began when Algerian authorities confiscated RS Berkane’s equipment after they landed in Algiers for the first leg of their semi-final match against USM Alger.

The Algerian authorities notably confiscated the Moroccan club’s jerseys for featuring the full Moroccan map with the Western Sahara region.

Despite efforts by CAF to mediate the issue and assert the legitimacy of RS Berkane’s jerseys, the Algerian authorities refused to return the confiscated items.

This resulted in the match’s abandonment and CAF declaring RS Berkane winners of the first leg with a 3-0 scoreline.

In the subsequent second leg, scheduled to take place in Morocco, USM Alger opted to withdraw from the match, further fueling the controversy.

CAF subsequently penalized USM Alger with a forfeit, awarding RS Berkane a 3-0 victory and eliminating the Algerian team from the tournament.

Medi1 TV reported Garrido as indicating that he had no direct involvement in the jersey controversy and that his primary concern was solely focused on football matters.

The report added that the coach had expressed disapproval of the events surrounding the jersey dispute and emphasized his dedication to the game and his discomfort with being embroiled in off-field controversies.

-Morocco World News

CAF Confederation Cup

Further CAF Sanctions await USM Alger and Algerian Football Federation

Published

5 days ago

April 29, 2024

Kunle Solaja

With the last minute withdrawal of USM Alger from the second leg match of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-final against Morocco’s RS Berkane, the Algerian club and the federation will be expecting further sanctions from CAF.

The Algerian team arrived Morocco on Friday for the Sunday scheduled match.

But on match day, first they failed to show up for the traditional warm-up preceding a match and eventually refused to play the match ostensibly on the instruction of the Algerian football federation.

The bone of contention is the outline Morocco map on the RS Berkane jerseys.

According to CAF regulations, “a withdrawal declared by a team after having qualified for the quarter-final and semi-final matches entails, in addition to the loss of the right of entry, a fine of fifty thousand (50,000) US dollars,”

In addition: “any team withdrawing from the competition after the calendar has been established will be prohibited from participating in all CAF interclub competitions for the next two editions following the edition of its withdrawal.”

Furthermore the regulations state: “in the event of a team’s withdrawal, its federation will be responsible for the financial and other consequences to be determined by the Interclub Commission and/or the CAF disciplinary jury”.