Enyimba Head Coach Stanley Eguma said his side 1-1 draw against Al Masry in the CAF Confederation could have been a different result, Sports247 reports.
The coach who took charge of the team two weeks before the important match against Al Masry said the team and could have gotten the results needed against Al Masry if the players do more.
Going into the match, the Aba Elephants needed an outright victory against Al Masry to better their chances of getting a quarter final quarter ticket but instead played a 1-1 draw.
The team must defeat the defending champions, Zamalek Sunday and may still not qualify as Al Masry just needs to defeat Black Bulls of Mozambique to scale through, both matches will be played in Egypt on Sunday.
An almost impossible mission by the People’s Elephants, and coach Stanley Eguma believed his side could have avoided the huge task ahead if the players had done more against Al Masry last weekend in Aba.
He described their performance as lethargic in the first half, and rued the missed chances in the second in the half which he said was caused by the inexperience of the players whom many are playing at the level for the first time.
“We had actually prepared and planned to win it. We trained very hard and mapped out our strategy to beat our opponents. But unfortunately, the Al Masry team came to play a game of their lives here (Uyo).” Eguma told the press after the match.
The coach spoke further on what went wrong:
“But I think we respected them so much, especially in the first half. We were lethargic in our approach, and that caused the early goal we conceded. That goal, I think, demoralized us so much.
“And most of these players have not played at this level before. They are playing at this level for the first time. It affected them.
“But in the second half, when we equalized, we had a series of chances to win the game. But we faltered in front of goal.”
“I think that was our undoing. Otherwise, it would have been a different result.” Eguma lamented.
The visitors took an early lead after just 8 minutes when Mohamed Hashen headed in a corner, before Ifeanyi Ihemekwele leveled scores for Enyimba in the 47th minute, as both teams shared the spoils.
As a result of the draw, the 2-time African champions moved to 3rd place in Group D with 5 points from as many games.
Enyimba, semi-finalists in 2018, will need to defeat group winners Zamalek in Cairo on Sunday, and hope that 2nd –placed Al Masry drop points at home against Black Bulls, to advance to the quarter-finals of the competition.
