Enyimba head coach Yemi Olanrewaju says his team must work on converting their scoring chances if they must excel in the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup (CAFCC), www.aclsports.com reports.
Olanrewaju spoke after seeing his side endure a nervy shootout victory over Etoile Filante Ouagadougou of Burkina Faso at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Sunday evening.
The win was enough to seal Enyimba’s place in the group stage of this season’s Confederation Cup – maintaining Nigeria’s scant dignity of having at least one team in the group stage of the competition for each of the last four seasons – but Olanrewaju believes they must improve.
“I wished we could have ended the game before penalties and considering the kind of chances we missed. We must work on this because we are lucky to escape and we can’t go to the group stage and be missing chances like this if we want to go to the quarter finals,” said the Enyimba head coach, Olanrewaju.
Olanrewaju also acknowledged that the anxiety of trying to progress to the group stage affected his players’ composure in the game and expressed relief that they got through in the end.
“We didn’t really play the way we normally play because there was a bit of anxiety from the lads. We were in a hurry for everything and we were not really calm in the last third but eventually we are glad to have scaled through and get to the group stage,” added the former MFM FC coach.
Enyimba are Nigeria’s only representatives in the group stage of CAF competitions this season after Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) champions Rangers International were eliminated by Angolan side Sagrada Esperança (3-2 on aggregate) on Sunday.
The People’s Elephant will now change their focus to the domestic league where they face Lobi Stars in a rescheduled game in Aba on Wednesday.
