Former Nigerian international goalie, Joseph Dosu (MON) has come out to explain the major reason Nigerian club representatives crashed out in both the CAF champions league and CAF Confederation Cup over the weekend.
Rivers United lost 0-6 to Wydad Casablanca in Morocco, while Plateau United also lost 0-1 to Esperance of Tunisia in Tunis.
Both teams crashed out in the CAF champions league, while Kwara United lost 0-2 to defending champions, RS Berkane of Morocco in an away match of the CAF Confederation Cup.
Dosu in a chat with Sports247 said Nigerian football fans should not blame the teams for their woeful performances but rather they should blame the League management company, LMC for failing to commence the league.
“Our clubs have done well in my own calculation. The question we should ask ourselves is why we start our league late. Almost all African countries have started their leagues before the champions league and Nigeria is yet to pick a date for the commencement of the league. It is a shame.
“If you look at all the northern African clubs, they have played more than ten matches in their various leagues before playing CAF tourneys so tell me how can we defeat them when our clubs are not playing competitive league,” he said.
The 1996 Olympic football gold medalist did not believe that the Northern African clubs are the best in Africa saying that the failure to kick off the league on time had an adverse effect on the club representatives in the continental tourneys.
“The likes of Stationery Stores, Julius Berger,3SC, Rangers, Pillars, and Enyimba used to beat the Northern African clubs before. Presently we are afraid to play them again because our league has not commenced in earnest. Don’t forget that Enyimba won the champions league twice,3SC won Confederation Cup once, and Julius Berger played in the Confederation Cup final twice. We used to beat all these North African clubs before.
“Let me say that we beat North African clubs before because our league was better organized and we always kick off the league before the commencement of CAF tourneys but today our league is not well organized and starts behind scheduled, this is what we will be seeing on the continental level,” he said.
The founder of Dosu Football Academy of Lagos also attributed defeats of Nigerian club representatives due to a lack of concentration.
“Another thing I may say that really worked against our clubs is the inability to concentrate to the end of the game. Plateau United conceded the winning goal at the last minute, Rivers United lost total concentration immediately after the red card, while Kwara United gave away two goals to the opponents which are still attributed to the lack of concentration.
“If you look at the performances of our teams, you would agree with me that the absence of our league cost them heavy defeats. If our league can kick start on time, maybe, one or two clubs may survive to the next stage,” he concluded.
