By Daily Sports on September 14, 2021

This last week we discussed various issues as it concerned our sports in the polity. It made beautifully reading as many readers of this digital newspaper responded and thumbed us up. It is on that note we continue to urge Nigerian clubs representing us in CAF Championships to be bold and make such statements too.

Honestly, this newspaper followed like religion the recruitment of all the teams in CAF Championships radar and if these are anything to go by then the best legs were in the various teams.

The next stop would be to put these boys together as a team because football is a team sport and so to make great strides in that arena management of teams must harness all that is available to ensure optimum results at the end of the day. As this page was going to bed, our representatives in CAF Champions League Akwa United must brace up decisively to face Algerian club side and one vehemently believes that the promise keepers will put their acts together and squarely do a great job in the second leg in faraway Algeria. 

They obviously found it difficult to contain the visitors in the very lush green pitch of Godswill Akpabio Stadium which ought to have served as slaughter field or ground as the most prestigious club football in the African continent battle begins.

Kennedy Boboye must go back to the drawing board to get his act strictly together he wants to take the team beyond what it displayed on Sunday. It was a good thing that the Akwa Ibom team played her first leg at home therefore the 1-0 win may have given them the confidence that it can after all do better not without extra hard work though. 

The team did not play as a championship side and therefore all hands must be on deck to ensure the Nigerian League champions will not be buddle out early in the championship many crack sides are yet to start off.

However, there is still a glimmer of hope that Akwa United would be turned around for optimum results. If what was displayed on Sunday is anything to rely upon for the journey in the hard-to-crack CAF Championship then the Akwa United team has a long way to travel. A good showing in Algeria in the second leg would no doubt give the side the impetus that after all her being NPFL Champions is no fluke.

One would but say congratulations there is a lot more on the ground to be covered. Our second team in the first-rate CAF competition Rivers Unite got a win on the road and one would but urge the Stanley Eguma tutored side to continue to keep their eyes on the ball as the championship progresses.

The battle in Tanzania may not have been easy but Rivers United from every indication, the team prepared well and the boys played to instruction and obeyed the golden rules that are applied on foreign soil. More job Rivers United FC as the road is long and lonely too as the nitty-gritty of the is still in the offering.

We wish the teams all the best and as Nigerian champions, nothing would be better  than an outright victory to make the subsequent legs less tension-free.

As we move on the NPFL and her other teams are on the corner and my heart is with Bayelsa United FC that repeated history like the old when teams from the lower league came all the way to claim the most difficult championship in Nigeria.

In great and good old days, it was called the Challenge Cup and few big-name teams survive the frills, thrills, and drills. I have waited thus far to say something about this team that the Governor of the State, His Excellency Senator Duoye Diri has never hidden his admiration and solid support for. It was deliberate to wait till now on Bayelsa United our next representative in the second tie of CA Championship, CAF Confederation Cup which the team is pairing old warhorse Enyimba International FC of Aba to vie for the glory in a competition no The Nigerian side has won.

In short this disarmingly unassuming number of citizens of the Bayelsa State has never looked back rather than what would benefit his people. He has done extremely well. He will and is ready to do more. One prays that the team coached by Depriye Tebower would put head together and fashion out a winning formula for the side in the forthcoming CAF second tie Championship.

It is also believed that he must have recruited a good number of experienced players to fortify his team in full readiness for the challenge ahead. These competitions are no longer cheap as great teams now compete. Governor Diri as usual has played his role and part so well in terms of financial encouragement and it is now left solely on the management and the technical crew to do their homework perfectly.

The Governor would not come and play for the team. He has shown his deep interest in the affairs of such motivation is the only tonic needed for any team to go all out from this beginning till the curtain is drawn in the champ. One that is going for the Bayelsa State Governor is he, not one that blows hot air or talks on the drop of the hat rather he marches action with words and he has shown that capacity and clout in the overall governance of the State thus far.

As this columnist continues to wish Bayelsa United and our other representative well in the Championship one must also sound it as a note of warning that CAF competitions have grown over these years and any team that failed to prepare extremely well will be shown the way out early in the various Championships.

We continue to keep the tap on these championships to get exclusives to our numerous readers. Join our social media handles. Keep shooting hard till next as the struggle continues!!

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 14, 2021

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