Olumide Ajibolade says winning a back-to-back Optima Energy Gold Cup against Shooting Stars in the final will be a bonus to his Beyond Limits, as his lads are ready to to learn, compete against the best.
Both teams clash in Saturday’s finale of the 12th edition of the nation’s off-season football tournament billed for the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne, Ogun State.
His thoughts ahead of the tantalizing clash after Beyond Limits edged FC Ebedei in the first semis on Thursday.
“The objective is to learn and compete, Shooting Stars should give us a good game for the boys to take the lessons. We’re happy.
“I’ve never gone to a tournament thinking I have to win, it’s never in the back of my mind, and of course people say that’s a lie because we win everything.
“Our objective is always to compete, and if we win, it’s a bonus. We have to ensure the lads play well and improve, and if we win again on Saturday, it’s just another trophy, and we’re happy for that.”
On the tough and close game against FC Ebedei, “I don’t think our semi-final game was difficult just because we won with a one goal margin, however the opposition was very physical, a lot duels and intensity pressing, organization with bodies behind the ball. And off course, we expected that when we know, as no team wants us to have space behind, so we keep probing trying to find the options to play around them and eventually we get a break through.
“By and large I think the organization from FC Ebedei was good but we were not just able to have in our one by one, may be it’s preseason, so we have a lot to work on.
“Nothing different from what we actually do, it’s preseason so we would then compete and hopefully we’ll be able to field a lot more players, so they can get the needed minutes as they prepare for other competitions that’s ahead of us. So nothing special, just our normal approach of excellence.”
