CAF Confederation Cup
CAF Confederation Cup: Day of Reckoning for Rivers United
BY SAMMY WEJINYA
The CAF Confederation Cup enters its Match Day four as Nigeria’s Rivers United take on Uganda’s Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). With every team in Group A winning its home match, nothing less is expected from Rivers United.
It is a make or break time for Rivers United. The section is extremely tough-looking with all four teams in the group, FUS Rabat (Morocco), Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA, Uganda), Club Africain (Tunisia) and Rivers United (Nigeria) peerless at home thus far.
This makes Tuesday’s game at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium Port Harcourt one that leaves little margin for error, for the Nigerian side especially, as any result other than an outright victory could mean curtains as far as their aspirations of reaching the quarter finals of the competition are concerned.
KCCA won the reverse fixture 2-1 at the Phillip Omondi Stadium (Lugogo), Kampala on June 3; a result that lifted them from bottom to second place on the log; such are the fine margins in this group!
Head coach of KCCA, Mike Hillary Mutebi acknowledges that things are evenly poised on a knife edge in the group and that goals difference could represent a tie-breaker eventually.
“We have not been effective so far as we should have won the (reverse fixture) 5-2. The result in Lugogo was not a true reflection of our dominance,” Mutebi told our official website, www.riversunitedfc.com.ng.
“The (issue) of goals difference is worrying so we have to try to outscore the opponent. In all our away games in the Confederation Cup, we have only failed to score against FUS Rabat and El-Masry; we always score away from home.
“Rivers United is a very good team but we (KCCA) are confident we can rub shoulders with them because we have tested the best,” he said.
Mutebi however frowned at what he called ‘time-wasting’ tactics employed by the Nigerian club in the first leg; sentiments echoed by his captain, Denis Okot Oola.
Okot however agreed with his coach that the ‘Pride of Rivers’ represents a solid proposition that could cause them more than a few problems on Tuesday.
“Rivers United have experienced players. (Bolaji Sakin) is huge and experienced and can outrun defenders. I expect them to play differently in Nigeria,” Okot said.
Algeria’s USM Alger continues to battle in what looked an hopeless situation in a bid to upturn a decision of the Committee for the Organization of Interclub Competitions and the Management of the Club Licensing System which awarded the first leg match of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-final duel to the visiting RS Berkane of Morocco.
The continental body on Friday confirmed the verdict of the Organising Committee and thus threw away the appeal by Algeria.
The Appeal Committee of CAF rejected the Algerian club’s requests.
The USM Algiers club delegation has arrived Morocco through the the Oujda-Angad airport. They were warmly welcome by Moroccan officials led by Belaqchour, the President of the professional national league.
The team arrived at around 5 p.m., aboard a special plane from Algiers. Also on hand to receive them were officials of Berkane officials.
It took the Algerians just 15 minutes from landing to leaving the airport. They were greeted by a large number of fans.
The Algerians have an Herculean task of overturning a 3-0 deficit awarded to RS Berkane in the botched first leg match. The return leg match will hold on Sunday at the Berkane municipal stadium at 8 p.m.
The decision to play the second leg in Berkane comes as USM Alger seeks to avoid additional sanctions from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), which could include a ban from participating in African competitions for up to four years.
Ghana’s Dreams FC coach, Karim Zito, announced on Friday that he is diligently preparing his players for a potential penalty shootout against Zamalek in the second leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-final, scheduled for Sunday.
The first leg match concluded with a goalless draw between the two teams in Cairo last week, and the upcoming second leg will take place in Kumasi, ultimately determining the team that will qualify for the final.
“We ended with penalty shootouts, and out of the twenty-four (24) players, only three (3) of them could not score, so we are ready if it comes down to penalties,” Zito stated during an interview with Kumasi-based Akoma FM.
He further added, “Let me say that we are hoping to secure qualification in regulation time on Sunday.”
During the first leg game in Cairo, Zamalek missed several clear goal-scoring opportunities, leaving them with no alternative but to avoid a loss in Ghana in order to advance to the final of the competition.
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