Remo Stars head coach, Daniel Ogunmodede, has described his squad as the underdogs ahead of the first leg of their CAF Champions League preliminary round clash with US Zilimadjou on Sunday, www.aclsports.com reports.
The Nigerian champions will host the champions of Comoros at the MKO Abiola Sports Arena in Abeokuta on Sunday before a return leg at the same venue on Friday. However, the Super Eagles assistant coach has labelled his side as the underdogs due to the number of players that left his title-winning squad, especially Junior Nduka.
“We lost a couple of important players,” Ogunmodede told newsmen at the pre-match press conference on Saturday evening.
“Most importantly, our ex-captain, Junior Nduka, who is a vital player for the philosophy and culture of the team. We lost him at that time; for sure, we are going to miss him. We are going to miss Michael Tochukwu, Sodiq Ismail, and Sikiru Alimi. These are vital players. Nonetheless, we are in it; we already have some players in, but it has been difficult getting them to adapt to the tactics, and the work must go on.”
On pressure to deliver despite the number of departures, the former youth team coach responded, “My third name is pressure. Even if I have the set of players that Real Madrid or Barcelona have, there will always be pressure. Losing such players looks like we are the underdogs presently. We are going to face the pressure and see how it goes,” he added.
Ogunmodede also spoke about the team news ahead of the clash, especially Victor Mbaoma who has been injured since the NPFL opener against Rivers United.
“We have some injury worries from Ibrahim after the game at Plateau United, and a couple of players in the midfield with minor cramps, and hopefully they will be fit for the game. We are still expecting Mbaoma to be out for another two weeks; unfortunately, we cannot wait. I believe in all my players,” the tactician concluded.
The game on Sunday has been scheduled to kick off by 4pm.
