By Akanimo Kufre
Nigeria’s Akwa United, ‘The Promise Keepers’ were aiming to play in the group stage of the CAF competition for the first time in history when visiting Al Hilal of Sudan smashed their hopes at the Nest of Champions in Uyo on Wednesday evening.
After 2-0 defeat in the first leg at Sudan, Akwa United needed to win by three clear goals, but it was the Sudanese that took the lead midway into the first half through Captain Ahmed Basheer.
Basheer tapped in a rebound after Akwa United goalkeeper Ojo Olorunleke had spilled a free kick letting out the spell for a gloomy day at Uyo.
The Uyo team knowing they needed to score four times to make it to the money spinning stage picked up the pieces and fought back. In the dying minutes of the first half, Michael Ibe delivered a net shaking header from Etim Mathew’s corner as first half ended 1-1.
Moments later, the Promise Keepers dominance paid off when Al-Hilal defender brought down Aniekeme Asuquo in the box and the Seychelles referee rightly pointed to the spot. Michael Ibe stepped up and completed his hat-trick.
With the scores at 3-1, the 2017 Aiteo Cup Champions knew they needed to score one more goal to secure their qualification. They threw everything forward but were constantly repelled by the visitor’s back line of taller defenders.
Towards the end of the game, Gabriel Okechukwu had a chance to score what could have been the decisive goal but misuse again another opportunity to help his side out of gloomy waters.
This has become the 2nd time Akwa United will miss the group stage of the CAF competitions having lost out in 2016 at home also to Congolese club AS Vita Club Mokanda.
Following the Akwa United, Plateau United and others early exit from CAF competitions, football supporters are worried why Nigerian club sides lose out in the continental level so easily. Why do good players feel eager to leave Nigeria compare to their African counterparts and how it affects our slot in the CAF competition and standards?
Addressing newsmen in a post match conference, Coach Abdu Maikaba blamed the exodus of good players from Nigerian clubs due to poor motivation. He also held that his team has learnt lessons from the competition.
“What is happening in Nigeria now is difficult, the discovered talents at tender age are taken away from the country. Go to Abuja and Lagos every week scouting programmes are going on. I’m impressed with my boys’ performance because it’s not easy to come back from three goals down in a match of this magnitude. We made a mistake and they scored, we needed to score more but we were only able to score three. That is football.”
“The boys gave their all but it was not just good enough on this occasion. We have learnt a lot from this competition and we hope to have another opportunity to represent Nigeria again next year so we can improve on what we have done this year.”
Man-of-the-Match Michael Ibe expressed disappointment over his team’s exit from the competition.
“It is not the result we wanted. All of us wanted to progress to the group stage of this competition, but despite our efforts it wasn’t to be. Playing in the group stage could have given us more opportunity to express ourselves, and it would have helped us to gain more experience in this competition.
“I’m just disappointed that we are knocked out at this stage.”
However, the State football FA chairman, Hon. Emmanuel Iba said the result was shocking but Akwa united will continue to be our brand. “The fans will continue to support Akwa United, the team for them is a brand. The team will continue to do their best and play good football so that Akwa will be like coca cola.”
