Nigeria’s representative at the CAF Confederation Cup, Rivers United, are prepared to clinch maximum points when they face off against Bloemfontein Celtic in the first round first leg of the competition today at the Dr. Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein.
The Garden City team arrived in South Africa on Sunday after their initial visa delay and held their first training session on Monday as well as been subjected to the protocol of COVID-19 assessment.
Bloemfontein Celtics were drawn bye in the preliminary round of the competition while Rivers United relied on a penalty shoot out to overcome hard fighting Futuro Kings of Equatorial Guinea.
Speaking ahead of the game, Eguma admitted that the South Africans will be hard nuts to crack, but his wards have come too far to let Nigerians down.
“We expect a tough game in South Africa. After the first round, we realised that this tournament requires nothing but the best from all of us, the players, the technical crew and the management.
“As it stands now, the state government and Nigerians are solidly behind the team. We can’t afford to let them down, not even at the time that our brothers (Kano Pillars and Plateau United) have been knocked out of the competition.”
“We must fight back and return our reputation as a Nigerian club side. We have worked on the team to ensure that they do not falter technically. We are ready for the match and it won’t be business as usual.
The South Africans are in high spirit after playing a 1-1 draw against Kaizers Chief in the South Africa Premier League while the Nigerians have been involved in friendly games instead due to the delayed kickoff of the Nigeria Professional Football League.
The return match will be played at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium in Port Harcourt next year January.
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