Rivers United Football Club of Port Harcourt on Saturday in Uyo said their success so far this season was attributable to the governor of their owner-state, Nyesom Wike.
Rivers United’s Chief Coach, Stanley Eguma, said at a pre-match news conference at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium that Wike’s contributions helped them to the 2022/2023 CAF Confederation Cup quarter-finals.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Rivers United host Young Africans SC of Tanzania on Sunday in a CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final first leg match from 2 p.m.
Eguma added that the club had also worked hard however to reach the quarter-finals, saying the feat has been a very big improvement in the history of the club.
He thanked the governor for his support to the club which has moved them so far, promising that they would put in their best to win Sunday’s match.
“It is a good development to be in the quarter-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup. We have laboured and worked hard to this level, which of course is a very big improvement in the club’s history.
“The governor of Rivers has been the chief financier of the club and, most importantly, God Almighty who has seen us through and the players and technical crew who have been working very hard.
“I think it is a good development that we are getting up to this stage and we will not let it off our hands immediately like that,” Eguma said.
The coach urged football fans in Uyo and across the country to stand by the club, come out en masse to support the club to victory in Sunday’s game.
“We expect fans to come out in their numbers to support the team tomorrow (Sunday). We should not be allowed to look like orphans because this is our home. Nigeria is our home.”
Rivers United’s captain, Festus Austin, while speaking assured that he and his teammates would put in their best to win Sunday’s match.
He said this was in view of the fact that they had defeated the Young Africans before at home and away.
Austin said Rivers United players have put in place strategies to score goals in Sunday’s match in spite of the strength of the Young Africans.
“We know what we want in this competition. People do call us underdogs, but we the players we are focused, and we know what we want.
“Young Africans are a very good side. We played against them last season, and we defeated them both home and away. But that will serve as a motivation for us, we will not allow that make us complacent.
“We just want to approach every game that comes our way with 100 per cent commitment. I know at the end we are going to scale through.
“We have worked to ensure we score goals on Sunday. We have already perfected our strategies on how to score the goals,” he said.
The coach of Young Africans, Nasredinne Nabi, while speaking with newsmen also said he was confident of going back to Tanzania with victory.
”Even though my team finished number one in our group and we are playing the team that finished second in their group, our players will not approach the match with any superiority in mind.
“Our ambition has been to qualify to this stage and do the best to win the match on Sunday and return to Tazania with victory,” he said.
Nabi however commended the choice and state of the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, saying it was a very good stadium for the match.
The captain of Young Africans, Bernard Morrison, on his part said his team would do their best to win the match on Sunday.
“Sunday’s game is not a joke for us. We’ve really prepared for this game and we’re determined to get to the semi-finals.”(NAN)
