CAF Cup Competitions: One crash, too many

The ouster of Nigerian clubs from the ongoing CAF competitions is seen as not only a show of shame but embarrassing as Rivers United remains the only team in the competition. What could be responsible?

Rangers

When the top four teams: Enugu Rangers, Rivers United, Ifeanyi Ubah and Wikki Tourists emerged from last season’s Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, as the representatives at this year’s Confederation of African Football, CAF Champions League and CAF cup, many were optimistic that the country will have good representations.

Little did they know that they were going to be bundled out so soon at the early stage of the competitions?

Rivers United defeated Al-Merrikh of Sudan by 3-0 in Port-Harcourt in the first leg only to lose woefully by 4-0 at Omdurman to crash out of the Champions League and drop into the CAF cup competition.

Just about 24 hours after Rivers United were sent packing; Enugu Rangers were also bundled out in the Round of 32 despite recording a 2-1 win over Zamalek of Egypt at the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium in Enugu. They were earlier white-washed 4-1 in the first leg in Cairo and crashed out on 5-3 on aggregate.

Rivers United

Ifeanyi Ubah also crashed out after defeating Egypt’s Al-Masry 1-0 in Nigeria, and lost by the same margin in Egypt, leading to penalty shootout, which the Egyptians won.

Wikki Tourists, another Nigerian team in the Confederation Cup turned to tourists in the competition as they crashed out despite beating rivals RSLAF of Sierra Leone 1-0 in Bauchi. The victory was not good enough as they lost 0-2 in Sierra Leone.

Worried by the development, some players have proffered solutions to the crisis rocking the Nigerian clubs in the continental competitions. Kelechi Osunwa of Al-Merrikh, Sudan who played against Rivers United said, “Next time, they (Rivers United) should try not to relax when they have a 3-0 first leg advantage. They must always work hard in the second legs.

Another Nigerian playing for Al-Merrikh, Dayo Ojo disclosed that, “We believed we could do it because we spoke to ourselves and decided that if Rivers United could score three goals (in Port Harcourt), we could (also) score four goals at home. We destabilized their game plan. Nigerian football fans must learn from Al-Merrikh in the area of supporting their teams. The support we got from our fans against Rivers United (in Omdurman) was very good and that is how we see it every day in domestic and continental matches. The fans must continue to support the teams whether they are doing well or not”.

Ifeanyi Ubah FC

This year’s woeful performance is a repeat of what happened penultimate year, as three out of the four clubs representing the country, Lobi Stars, Heartland and Kano Pillars, crashed out in the CAF inter-clubs competitions, with only Enugu Rangers scaling through to the second stage.

The saddest episode was when Lobi Stars scandalously lost 1-7 to their Mozambique opponent, Muculuma, in the second leg first round match of the CAF Confederation Cup played in Maputo. It was the first time a Nigerian team was beaten outside the country by that wide margin.

More worrisome is the fact that the Nigerian league was rated then as the best in the continent and one of the best in the world.

However, the question on the lips of so many football followers especially Nigeria is that, is the league charade or something else is responsible for the lackluster performance?

Meanwhile, reactions have continued to trail the embarrassing elimination of Nigerian clubs from the CAF continental engagements. Some analysts attributed it to so many factors.

Some critics believe that Nigerian clubs are not always prepared hence they ended up as participants not contenders. The moment they qualify, they are already crying for money to travel hence they are distracted right from the beginning. Some of them end up arriving at match venues late because of lack of funds.

Not forgetting in a hurry, Heartland FC of Owerri in the Confederation Cup which crashed out without kicking a ball. They got to Gabon late due to flight hitches and their opponents, Union Sportive Bitam, walked over them. They were enmeshed in travel hitches due to cash-strapped.

Wikki Tourists FC

Recall that Enyimba Football Club of Aba won the CAF Champions League back-to-back because of the availability of funds by the Abia State Government led by Orji Uzor Kalu.

However, many attributed the embarrassment of Nigerian clubs to the league. They claimed that the best teams don’t emerge most times. Some critics argued that some teams were being aided by referees. According to Clement Obi, “That is the reason why you will see some teams winning the NPFL trophy back-to-back-to-back and yet crash out in the first round of the CAF competitions to lowly-rated teams in the continent.

Emeka Ndukwe said the problem is lack of experience on the parts of some of the clubs. “I don’t see anything wrong if some of them meet Enyimba to tap from their wealth of experience especially on how they won the trophy, even though we know money played a big role.”

It is also believed that the tactical approaches adopted by some of the coaches are the reasons why they always lose scandalously away from home. According to an official who spoke on anonymity, “Our coach played defensive game throughout and when the boys were tired, the opponents started pumping in the goals.”

Some experts attributed it to the weather. Since the clubs don’t care about the weather, they ended up playing in an unfriendly weather which makes the players to play below par. For instance, two years, in Maputo, Lobi went into the game with the hope of defending, but the tie played under a 25°C was not friendly enough for the players hence they developed cold feet.

Poor officiating is also seen as another factor responsible for most defeats. They claimed that Nigerian teams are always robbed whenever they are playing away from home.

Recently, Rivers United were not allowed to video the match against Al-Merikkh and there were claims that they were robbed during the match. On several occasions, Nigerian clubs were reduced to nine or 10 men by the referees. Precisely two years ago, Lobi Stars goalkeeper John Lawrence was sent off for a reason best understood by the referee.

Kano Pillars also claimed that there was biased officiating that year. Pillars spokesman, Idris Malikawa said, “This is daylight robbery. African football is doomed with such refereeing. It is just unbelievable and if this is how African football is, then we are all doomed.”

Martins Odiete predicted that if precautions are not taken, all the club sides will be crashing out in the first round every year. He said the number of crises in the league is enough to make the players and clubs not to be in top shape.

According to him, “All over the world, even in South Africa, clubs have structures on ground. They have club houses, functional website, training pitches, travel by air, in Nigeria, they traveled by road even when Heartland FC won the Federation Cup, they travelled by road to Owerri, Imo state, it is so pathetic.”

Year after year whenever Nigerian clubsides crash out, they always said they are going back to the drawing board but they kept on repeating the same mistakes either on the pitch or off the pitch especially in the area of travelling arrangements.

The most worrisome of all the clubs that crashed in this year’s CAF competition is Rivers United after the state government spent huge sum of money on the team. The Port-Harcourt side embarked on several trips including a tour of Spain where they played against La-Liga sides.

Their ouster from the CAF Champions League especially the scandalous loss to Al-Merrikh after leading by 3-0 is seen as disgusting. Meanwhile, the team has since tendered an apology.

Another disturbing aspect is that Nigerian club coaches don’t write match report of what transpired in their past matches. The match report would have helped the team that is participating that season to know how to correct the mistakes made by other teams in the past or have understanding of the club/continent they are going to.

Some analysts however call on the League Management Company, LMC and the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to look into the issue of clubs’ lackluster performances. They believe their non-challance attitude is contributing a lot to the dismay performance of Nigerian clubs.

Unlike what is obtainable in other countries where everybody is involved including the embassy, airport officials, football federation and others, that cannot be said about Nigeria where the clubs are meant to carry their own crosses by themselves forgetting that they are representing the country and not the club alone.

Analysts also noted that it is not enough to complain or apologise, what is important is for the administrators to do the right thing at the right time to avoid a repeat. They also believe if the above suggestions are taken into consideration, it will go a long way to help them in subsequent outings.