Tag: Enyimba

• Ready to face any team as draws hold in Cairo today

Enyimba FC, Nigeria’s CAF Champions League campaigners have asserted that they do not fear any of the remaining seven teams they may likely be pooled against when the draws for the group stage of the competition are made today in Cairo but that they respect all their opponents.

The People’s Elephant defeated Vipers SC of Uganda, Vital’O of Burundi and Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia before sealing a spot among the eight teams that made it to the group stage and they are joined by Entete Setif (Algeria), AS Vita Club (Democratic Republic of Congo), Al-Ahly (Egypt), Zamalek (Egypt), ASEC Mimosas(Ivory Coast), Wydad Casablanca (Morocco) and ZESCO United (Zambia).

Ahead of the draws today in Cairo, Egypt, the chairman of Enyimba, Felix Anyansi-Agwu told SportingLife that  Nigeria’s representatives are ready for the competition and would be poised to face other three clubs pooled in their group without singling anyone out.

He confirmed that Enyimba would fill up the remaining slots yet to be occupied by the team in the last players’ registration and that they would be more than motivated to put Nigeria’s flag on the spotlight again just like they did in 2003 and 2004.

Anyansi Agwu also disclosed that Enyimba won’t be drawn to react on their current position on the log but pointed out that whoever that is leading on the table does not matter for now with plenty of matches still to be decided before the end of the season.

Enyimba are eighth on the log with 27 points from 15 matches and they still have three outstanding league matches to be on par with other teams on the table.

Enyimba captain, Chinedu Udoji has said he is confident they will catch up with the clubs at the top of the Nigeria league “in the next few weeks”.

The People’s Elephant are 11th on the table and seven points adrift of leaders Rangers, but with three games at hand, Udoji said they hope to win those games to see them go top of the standings.

“We haven’t started well like everyone knows, but we are not too far off,” he said.

“We have some outstanding games that will see us go top if we won. If we won those games, we’ll be top in the next few weeks.”

The Nigeria champions are beginning to gain some momentum after a slow start to the season and are now in the money-spinning group stages of the CAF Champions League and continued their resurgence in the league with a 2-0 home win over FC Ifeanyi Ubah last weekend.

Niger Tornadoes defender, Lanre Ferinyaro, is optimistic his team can get a result against a resurgent Enyimba today.

The Minna-based side travelled to the east for a date with the reigning champions in a match day 14 clash in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

Tornadoes will be up against an Enyimba side brimming with confidence after their away win at Kano Pillars in their last game.

Ferinyaro believes if his side stick to their game plan, they can get something from the game even as he admitted Enyimba are high on confidence.

“It will be a very tough game. Enyimba are Nigerian champions and just defeated Kano Pillars this week so they will be confident,” he told supersport.com.

“But the truth is no two games are the same and we also have a very good team too. If we stick to our game plan we can get something out of the Enyimba clash.”

Ferinyaro also said his team are up for the game because he knows Enyimba have struggled in their adopted ground of Umuahia which makes them set for the taking.

Enyimba have beaten Kano Pillars for the first time at home after the People’s Elephant defeated Sai Masu Gida 2-1 at their fortress-Sani Abacha Stadium in a rescheduled NPFL Match Day 7 tie played yesterday.

The Aba side have always tried in the past but their best was a draw (1-1) during the 2007/2008 season but yesterday in Kano, Nzube Anaezemba and Ike Thankgod goals in the 51st and 82nd minutes were enough to cancel out Rabiu Ali’s 20th minute effort for Pillars.

Pillars started the game more purposeful of the two sides and even dominated ball possession and it was no surprise they shot into the lead in the 20th minute after a good work from the midfield.

The hosts had the opportunities to increase the tally before the end of the first half but they fluffed the chances that came their way as Sai Masu Gida went into the halftime break a goal up.

Enyimba improved their game in the second half and the fans at the Sani Abacha Stadium were awe struck when Anaezemba drew the visitors level six minutes into the second half.

The introduction of Leonard Ugochukwu in place of Peter Onyekachi in the 53rd minute changed the tempo of the game and after some more near misses by Pillars, Enyimba shot into the lead for the first time in the game in the 82nd minute through Thankgod, who was at the right place to net his team second goal of the day.

Despite losing their goalkeeper, Theophilus Afelokhai (who was with Pillars for 10 years)  to injury in the 83rd minute, his replacement Femi Thomas made some big saves to ensure that Enyimba triumph for the first time in Kano.

It was the second time Kano Pillars would be beaten at home since 2003 with the first being the loss to Nasarawa United in the league last season.

The Chief Coach of Dream Team VI Samson Siasia has urged the three Enyimba Football Club players namely Chima Akas, Daniel and Joseph Osadiaye as well as the two Kano Pillars players: Ifeanyi Mathew and goalkeeper Yussuf Mohammed to return to the Serob Hotel Abuja camp after yesterday’s mid-week matches or he would be perfecting his strategies for the 2016 Olympic Games without them.

Siasia told SportingLife that he always love to work with the home grown talents and only give considerations to the foreign based players if the ones from the home front fail to live up to his  expectation.

“It seems some people don’t really understand the huge task ahead of us. We are in a tough group and only good preparations will help us in achieving our ambition in Brazil.

“I have told the invited payers that I will not permit them to go for the mid-week Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) games again maybe only the weekend games. So I am using this medium to plead with the clubs to bear with us because we have less than three months to prepare for the Olympics.

“As I speak with you now, we have five players from Enyimba Football Club and Kano Pillars that played in today’s mid-week match (yesterday) that are yet to join us. So this is what I am saying. We need to face the work at hand squarely and with all the necessary seriousness and commitment”, Siasia told SportingLife at the team’s evening training yesterday.