Rivers United head coach, Stanley Eguma has praised the effort and grit of his players in ensuring that they progressed out of the CAF Champions League group stage despite thier away loss to Watanga as they set up an highly anticipated mouthwatering clash against champions of Africa, Wydad Casablanca.
Having previously won 3-0 in the first preliminary leg at thier home ground, Liberia based Watanga needed 4 goals at thier home ground against Rivers United to turn the deficit for any chance of progress but all hopes of a comeback proved abortive as the Nigeria based club showed resilience and tenacity to pull through.
They will now face African champion, Wydad Casablanca in the semi finals, a game Eguma expects to be tough.
Speaking after the game at Liberia, Stanley Eguma disclosed, “We never expected this kind of fight having beaten them 3-0 at home, the team changed today and fought very hard.”
“I commend thier effort, they flexed thier muscle but fortunately we are better than them. When they got the penalty, they took it and we tried to not let them score again, just to contain them till the end of the game.”
“We have to work very hard and improve on our performance so far, it’s going to be a big game against the champions of Africa, it’s not an easy meat.”
On thier chances of progression, he said, “I think we are equal to the task, my players are in high spirits, working very hard, the sponsorship and welfare is perfectly okay, the excellency is doing us well and I believe with his motivation, the sky will be our limit and go beyond the group stage of the competition,” he concluded.
