By Akanimo Kufre
Ambition and focus will make the difference in the scoreline as Rivers United FC, Nigeria’s representative in the CAF Confederation Cup quarter finals, face Young Africans of Tanzania on Sunday by 2pm at the Nest of Champions, Uyo. Rivers United in 2021 defeated Young Africans, the ‘Citizens’ of Dar es Salaam twice in similar CAF encounters.
However, Young Africans Coach, Nasreddine Nabi in a pre-match conference said it will be a different game on Sunday in Uyo because they are now better prepared than in 2021. “My target was to get the team to this stage of the competition first and we lost in 2021 because the Young Africans team was not ready, we had many problems with the COVID and short start of that season. Now it is different for us and Rivers United. This is football and we have big ambitions!”
Captain Benard Morrison of Young Africans, who led his team to top their group also assured that they were in Uyo for a better result after 90 minutes. “We are here to get good results so that we can finish the game back in Tanzania. Tomorrow’s game is not a joke for us, we are determined to get to the semi-finals.”
Rivers United however are better motivated for two reasons, they won the visitors home and away and made a new record of reaching the quarter-final stage for the first time in the club’s history.
The team says it is also determined to make it count by scoring more goals.
“We have laboured and worked hard to be at this level. It is a good development in the history of the club, the players have been working very hard that we have come this far. Scoring goals makes the difference and we have perfected our strategy on how to score goals tomorrow. We respect Young Africans as a club with regular appearances in CAF competition.” Coach Stanley Eguma told the press.
Going into Sunday’s game, Young Africans also known as Yanga, were top of their group and won four out of five previous games while Rivers United only had one win in the last five matches both at the local and intercontinental matches.
Despite these records, River’s captain, Festus Austin is driven to re-enact the 2021 experience against Young Africans, “people call us underdogs but we are focused and know what we want. As players we feel the pressure because of our target and the people you want to make happy. We are encouraged by Rivers people, Nigerians and our fans. We know how to come out top, Young Africans are unlucky because we just have to do our job by getting it right. Yes, we must get it right!”