It was a highly inspiring performance from players of Rangers International F.C, under coach Salisu Yusuf, who against all odds stopped high flying Pyramids F.C of Egypt 1-0 at the Cairo International stadium, Sunday, in a match day 5, Total/CAF Confederation cup encounter.
The ‘Flying Antelopes’ who prosecuted the match without most of its tested stars did well to contain the adventurous Pyramids side that inflicted a 3-1 home defeat on the 10-man Nigerian side on match day one of the competition with Ifeanyi George’ 73rd minute well taken opportunity making the difference.
The Egyptian side who had already qualified for the knock out stage of the competition before the encounter were the first to threaten as Mohamed Hamdy sent a cross inside the box which was met by John Antwi’ header that came off the cross bar on 22 minutes.
Chiamaka Madu would have opened scoring for the Nigerian side on 42 minutes after he benefited from a howler committed by Abdallah Bakri to come with a one-on-one situation with Pyramids’ goalkeeper, Mahd Soliman but his effort bounced off the cross bar.
Rangers’ Ghanaian shot stopper, Nana Bonsu was alive to his duties on 54 minutes to deny Mohamed El Gabbas’ connecting header off a Mohamed Hamdy’ inch perfect cross.
Against the run of play, Ifeanyi George broke the deadlock on 73 minutes after he was released by an Isaac Loute’ defense splitting pass to smash home with a deadly precision of a panther and silence the fans at the magnificent edifice.
With the victory, Rangers restored their pride and had ample opportunity of picking a knock out stage ticket with five points from five group matches played but few hours later, Al-Masry F.C of Egypt extinguished that hope with a very late 1-0 victory over Mauritanian side, F.C Nouadhibou in Port Said, no thanks to a Saidou Sampore’ 86th minute goal.
In a chat after the win in Cairo, coach Salisu said, “It was a good match which my players gave their very best for a deserved victory. It was tough as the Pyramids players were always coming at us but to my players’ credit, they held on for this victory. No doubt, I feel sad that we will not be progressing further with Al-Masry’ win over Nouadhibou but we take the positives from this win into the NPFL after our last match on Sunday at home against Al-Masry.”
Ifeanyi George who scored his third goal in his last two matches, said, “I thank God for the victory. It was a collective effort that resulted in the goal I scored. I believe that more will come. Sure, I feel sad that we would not progress to the knock out stage following Al-Masry’ win over Nouadhibou but we shall approach the last match like a cup final.”
Rangers will this weekend, February 2, 2020 engage Al-Masry F.C of Egypt in a match day 6, Total/CAF Confederation cup fixture inside the main bowl of Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium, ‘The Cathedral’, with kickoff slated for 8.00pm.
