Finidi George explains Enyimba’s failure at inaugural Africa Football League

By Saheed Afolabi

Enyimba International head coach, Finidi George has given an insight into the failure encountered by the club at the Africa Football League (AFL).

The People’s Elephant lost to Wydad Casablanca 4-0 on aggregate to exit the tournament in the first round.

George said Enyimba arrived Uyo on October 17 with the aim of engaging the team with adequate trainings on natural grass because the players are more used to synthetic pitch but it couldn’t be achievable because the management couldn’t provide the adequate arrangements and the club had to make do with a primary school football pitch.

The former Nigeria international, believes the People’s Elephant couldn’t give their best because of few training days which wasn’t enough to cause an upset in the AFL.

The champions league winner disclosed the issues with the team isn’t of the technical crew but praised the young lads for their competitive level.

“We arrived Uyo on October 17 with the idea to have as many training sessions as possible on the grass pitch in Uyo since we are more used to our synthetic pitch. But we couldn’t really achieve that because the management failed to make the right arrangements with the stadium authorities. As a result, we improvised and had one of our training sessions at a primary school, while another training session was cut short because of the same poor arrangements,” he told the Media.

“In fact, we played a team that was more used to the playing surface than us, the home team. It was obvious that we were at a disadvantage as a team used to artificial pitches and this really affected us.

“Also, we had only three trainings with the AFL match ball, meanwhile, our opponents had enough time to get used to it. That was why you could see my players struggling with their control, passing and shooting.

“It is sad to see such statements being released when all hands should be on deck and things should be more organized to enable a positive environment for all. Yes, there have been issues, but I remained patient because I believed that we could harmonise efforts and work things out; but here we are.

“The issue with the team is obvious, and it has nothing to do with the coaches. The same coaches won the league with less goals conceded and highest goal scored. We won the best Super 6 ever organized, scored the highest and conceded the least number of goals.”

After exiting the AFL, the People’s Elephant will concentrate on the hostilities in the NPFL.