Daily Independent (Lagos)
Peter Edema
18 July 2011
Enyimba football club boss, Felix Anyansi-Agwu, has told the club supporters not to write off the team as a result of the 2-2 game against Al Hilal of Sudan last Sunday in its first group match of the 2011 CAF Champions League.
In fact, he insisted that Enyimba would win the trophy for the third time.
He said after the match that the team has learnt a lot from the draw on the premise that if Hilal could force them into a 2-2 draw at Aba, nothing stop them from winning or drawing away matches.
According to him, It was a bad day for the people Elephants, “but we’ve learnt some lessons from the game and we are forging ahead,” he told MTNFootball.com
“If Hilal could come here and get a draw, why can’t we go to Cameroon, Morocco and Sudan to get same or even a win?
“I trust this team to do what the 2003/2004 class did. This is only a temporary setback that will be over by our next games. There is no cause for alarm.”
Enyimba started out brightly but could not translate its dominance into goal as solid defending and the alertness of goalkeeper Goma Genaro Awad kept it at bay throughout the first half.
Hilal Serbian coach Micho Sredojevic saluted his team’s doggedness.
“Enyimba is a very good team but it is important to win all your home matches and once you have got some draws away from home you are already coasting home to the semi final,” said ‘Micho’.
“We got Enyimba’s weak point when they were coming out for attack and on two occasions like that we caught them and we capitalised on that.
“The (slippery) pitch really made playing very difficult but my players showed great understanding and we got a deserved draw that could have been better, if not for some good work from the Enyimba defenders.”
The scorer of the Enyimba equaliser, Valentine Nwabili, was picked as the Most Valuable Player on the back of his long-range drive that made a fool of the Hilal shot stopper.
AllAfrica – All the Time
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Nigeria: CAF League – Don’t Write Us Off Yet – Anyansi-Agwu