September 13, (THEWILL) – The drama of controversial positive COVID-19 tests that rule out affected Nigerian footballers ahead of crunch fixtures replayed in one of the first legs of the Continental matches played on Sunday with the pair of Nigerian clubs securing slim 1-0 victories.
As happened with the Super Eagles, first against the Squirrels of Benin Republic in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers and recently against the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde in the World Cup qualifiers, three players and two officials of Rivers United FC were confirmed to be COVID-19 positive.
This raised red flags for Rivers United and suspicions of foul play on the side of the authorities in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania as it was diametrically contrary to results from tests the team conducted prior to their departure from Nigeria for the fixture.
Notwithstanding, the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side engaged their scheduled opponents, the Young Africans of Tanzania in the CAF Champions League fixture and came out of the other side with a tough 1-0 victory. The slim margin was a positive result from the away game even if it demonstrated the need for improvements to go far in the competition.
The game winner was scored by Moses Omodumuke in the 51st minute. Rivers United could not find another goal for the rest of the game but, most importantly, held on to their lead for the valuable away win. The second leg will be at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port-Harcourt in a week’s time.
In the other tie, the case was quite similar because Nigeria’s NPFL champions Akwa United were forced to dig deep and persist to the very final moments of their first leg match against CR Belouzidada of Algeria at their Nest of Champions stadium in Uyo.
The tight encounter was expected as both teams are current champions of their leagues and cancelled each other out in all departments. Even if the Akwa United side dominated the game, the Belouzidada defense withstood the pressure admirably.
As they frustrated the Nigerian side, the visitors made incursions into the danger area of Akwa United with goal threats especially in the second half. Yet, it remained a stalemate nonetheless as Nigeria’s champions increased their pressing for a home win.
Fortunately, after long fruitless efforts, the pressure paid off in the 87th minute. Ubong Friday finally broke through the resilient Belouzidada defense to give the edge to the hosts for all the herculean defensive and tactical efforts of the visitors to come to naught.
The Algerian champions will seek to get their pound of flesh back from the Nigerian champions when they host Akwa United in the reverse fixture of the preliminary round in Algeria next week with a two-goal margin result which they will be searching for to ensure their qualification. Meanwhile, Akwa will qualify with only a draw.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
