Nigeria Leagues
CAF CC: Evans Ogenyi hails Rivers United feat after guaranteeing Nigeria’s four CAF slots
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Rivers United coach, Evans Ogenyi has praised his side after they came from a goal down to win 2-1 over Dreams FC and seal a quarter-final place in the CAF Confederation Cup on Sunday.
The Nigerian side hosted Dreams FC of Ghana in the penultimate match of the group stage and recorded a 2-1 win.
At the end of the day, Rivers United and Dreams FC qualified for the CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final.
Tunisian side, Club Africain couldn’t make it from the same group as well as Academica from Angola.
Ogenyi sits on the bench for the Pride of Rivers for continental games because the team’s Technical Adviser, Stanley Eguma does not have the requisite qualification to sit on the bench.
He was happy to help the country maintain their four continental slots after making it to the last eight.
“I feel actually happy. I feel elated because it would have been disastrous if Rivers United of Nigeria had not qualified,” Ogenyi told journalists after the match.
“It is a national and Nigeria project and if we do not qualify, our slot in Africa will be reduced to two instead of four. We have restored that parity.
“This qualification for the quarter-final now guaranteed us four slots, two in the CAF Champions League and two in the Confederation Cup. That alone makes me elated and happy.”
After equaling last season’s continental feat, the focus now is to get to the semi-final and probably become the first Nigeria side to win the tournament since the change of name from the CAF Cup.
“We qualified for the quarter-final stage last season.” He continued. “We want to see how we can surpass that. You have to dream like the team we played. We need to dream and be ambitious. If you don’t think big you can’t be big.
“We want to surpass the achievements of last season. No club has this competition in Nigeria. We want to see how far we can go and will take each match as it comes.” He concluded.
The competition was renamed CAF Confederation Cup after the merging CAF Cup and Winners Cup previously won by Shooting Stars, Bendel Insurance, and Enugu Rangers.
