TotalCAFCL: Enyimba in make or mar contest with Al Merrikh

Former Total CAF Champions League (TotalCAFCL) winners Enyimba FC of Nigeria will face Sudanese side Al Merrikh in a make or mar contest at the Enyimba International Stadium, Aba, Nigeria on Wednesday afternoon.

The occasion is the second leg final qualifying round clash between both sides, with the Sudanese holding a massive 3-0 advantage from the first leg decided at the Al Hilal Stadium, Omdurman a fortnight ago.

In a game Enyimba had majority of the ball, they were undone by moments of lack of concentration at the rare, allowing star forward Saif Terry Saedin to net an emphatic hattrick and put his side in pole position to advance.

Enyimba head coach Fatai Osho is not giving up though and told www.aclsports.com on Tuesday that his side will pick courage from the things they did right in Sudan.

“The result in Sudan was not the best for us but we can’t completely lay a blanket statement on that performance,” began Osho to www.aclsports.com

“We are looking at where we got it wrong and where we did well, we also picked courage from there.

“The mindset of the players and attitude at training do not look like people that want to just drop the ticket for Al Merrikh. We can see them fighting and as players, they are telling us that they can turn the table against these Sudanese.

“That’s quite encouraging if that is coming from them and it makes our job easier. We are looking at the tapes to exploit areas where they are vulnerable,” said Osho.

The People’s Elephant look set to be without suspended left back Imo Obot while captain Austin Oladapo and winger Anayo Iwuala face late fitness tests ahead of Wednesday’s game.

Forward Victor Mbaoma also stressed that the team still believe in what they can do.

“We actually believe in ourselves, we hope for the best. It’s a difficult game because we lost (the first leg) 3-0 but we are very very hopeful and working very hard and since they can score three goals there, we can turn the table around,” the former Remo Stars forward told www.aclsports.com

Wednesday’s clash will kick off at 3:30pm Nigerian time in Aba with the winner on aggregate qualifying for the lucrative group stage of the Total CAF Champions League while the losing side drop to the Confederation Cup.