Follow Us on Google
Elkanemi Warriors of Maiduguri, one of Nigeria’s surviving representatives in African club football, have assured Nigerians that they are ready to dump Raja Casablanca of Morocco, their next opponent in the CAF Confederation Cup.
The team’s technical adviser, Emmanuel King, said the club is not intimidated by Raja, insisting the Moroccan side are living on past glory in the same way Enyimba of Aba once did.
Speaking on the club’s expectations ahead of the tie and their chances of overcoming Raja to reach the next round, Emu said: “My expectation is simple: 2 games of football, 180 minutes, and we will fight for every second.
Do I believe we can overcome Raja? Yes. 100%. If I didn’t believe, I wouldn’t be here as coach of El-Kanemi Warriors.
Look, Raja are favourites. They have more experience in Africa, more titles, bigger budget. Nobody will argue that. But football is not played on paper. It is played on the pitch.
El-Kanemi Warriors won the President Federation Cup to be here. We beat UDIB to reach this stage. That shows we have character. Despite that, we’re nearly 5 weeks old with absolutely new players. Though we can’t traverse the continent to sign high-profile players due to the economic situation, we are pushing harder to represent Nigeria and Borno State well. We have a responsibility to make our people happy and proud.
The plan is clear: We must be strong in Ikenne in the first leg. Get a good result at home. Then go to Casablanca with belief. If we defend well as a team, if we take our chances, and if we have the mentality of warriors, then yes, we can reach the group stage.
I am not promising anything to the media. I am promising hard work from my players to our fans. After the 2nd leg in Casablanca, we will see. But I believe in this group.”
He added: “We respect Raja, but we believe in ourselves. I expect to compete in both legs. Can we qualify? Yes, we believe we can. It will be difficult, but El-Kanemi Warriors are not here to just participate. We are here to fight and try to reach the next round for Nigeria.”
On the team’s approach to the first leg, the coach stressed the importance of a strong defensive showing at home:
“Every goal counts in CAF. We want to win. We want to score. But most importantly, we don’t want to concede at home.”
He said the Warriors’ overriding mission remains to fly Nigeria’s flag high in the competition:
“Our target is to represent Nigeria well. Win or lose, we will give everything. But our focus now is on how to win.”
