CAF Confederation Cup: Rivers United and neutralizing Young Africans' threat

By Olusola Adebayo 

Rivers United coach, Stanley Eguma's major worry is how to neutralize the threats of Young Africans SC, their opponent in the quarter-final of the CAF Confederations Cup.

Both sides will clash on Sunday at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium Uyo as the vastly improved Young Africans of Tanzania are coming with decent group stage credentials, they pose a serious threat to Rivers United's ambition of making it into the Semi Final of the competition.

Head to Head 

But history is on Rivers United's side going by the head-to-head records between both teams.

Rivers United and Young Africas met in 2021 in the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League with Rivers United coming out victorious over two legs winning on both occasions by 1-0 each to eliminate the Tanzania team.

Fast forward to 2023, the foremost Tanzanian team has shown tremendous improvement as the team has been churning out impressive results both on the continent and on the domestic fronts.

They are currently topping the table in the Tanzanian top division with 68 points from 26 matches, winning 22 matches and losing two with two drawn matches scoring a total of fifty goals with an average of over two goals per match and conceding only 13 goals.

Young Africans finished on top of their group in the CAF Confederation Cup. The team won a total of four matches, lost one, and drew one. 

A total of nine goals were scored during the campaign, the goals were scored by six players with Fiston Meyele Kalala and Kennedy Musonda leading the assault on opponents with 3 goals and two goals respectively. 

A new mentality 

Despite their impressive results, Stanley Eguma believes they are beatable but not by underrating or relying on past Rivers United favorable records against them, good ingredients for success.

"We are not relying on past performance, no two games are the same. I understand that the Yanga SC has rebuilt its team and they are doing well this time around in the domestic league, they also top their group in the confederation cup" the coach told Rivers United FC Media.

The coach said only a new mentality and approach which is hinged on pushing the boys beyond their capacity will them to overcome the challenge of beating Young Africans to the Semi-Finals.

Stanley Eguma said: It’s not like before, we are coming with a new mentality and approach”. 

"We are not looking at what we achieved from them the last time, we are trying to push ourselves more than our capacity," Coach Stanley Eguma submitted. 

Pitfalls Rivers must avoid 

Rivers United finished second behind Asec Mimosa of Ivory Coast in their group winning three of their games, two of which came from the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo and one from an away ground while drawing only one out of the six group games coincidentally in Uyo.  

They bounced back from losing their first match of the group phase against Diable Noirs by 3-0 and went on a four games unbeaten streak before conceding an early goal in Abidjan against ASEC Mimosa thus conceding the top spot in the group to the Ivorians. 

They must overcome the momentary loss of concentration noticed in the two matches they lost en route to the quarter-final if they want to come out unscathed against the Young Africans as any loss of focus might be costly. 

Also, conversion of all chances created cannot be over-emphasized, Rivers United needs to be more effective in their chances conversion rate, if they want to go swim past Yanga SC.

A date with history 

They are the only team left on the continent flying the flag of the country, they have a date with history as no Nigeria club has won the trophy since it was repackaged and renamed CAF Confederation Cup in 2004.

They also stand the chance of becoming the first Nigerian club to win a continental trophy since 2004 after Enyimba won the 2003 and 2004 CAF Champions League.

All these should serve as motivating factors for the players to rise above normal showings and turn up with their best performance on matchday which is good enough to defeat Yanga SC over the two legs, the first leg of the hurdle is slated for Sunday 23rd April 2023 in Uyo while the 2nd leg will be played at 5 pm at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Tanzania on Sunday 30th April 2023.