Sports
CAFCL: Enyimba Confident Of Upstaging Rahimo
Enyimba’s head coach, Usman Abd’Allah, is confident his side can overturn their CAF Champions League 1-0 preliminary round first leg defeat to Burkinabe side, Rahimo FC, Tidesports source reports.
Two-time CAF Champions League winners, Enyimba, struggled a bit against their little known opponent in Ougadougou and will need to score, at least, two goals without conceding in the reverse fixture in Aba to progress into the Second Preliminary Round.
“It’s not a good result for us, but at the same time it’s not catastrophic because if we had lost by two goals or three then it would be a difficult situation,” Abd’Allah said of the Enyimba defeat to Rahimo.
He said: “as you know, we are all starting and results are always this way until we get ourselves into the competition where we get much fitter.
“They have a youthful and young team with very good mobility and good techniques and they are very fit.
“The goal came in with a deflection. We could have saved that goal, but now we have to go back to Aba and cancel the goal and have to get another one more goal to seal the deal.
“We’ve seen the team now so the most important thing is to go back, sit down and work with what we’ve seen of the team.”
Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt contingent, comprising players, technical crew, backroom staff, and officials, depart the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos State on Wednesday, bound for Kinshasa, DR Congo.
The team is set to face FC Les Aigles du Congo in the first-round first-leg match of the CAF Champions League.
This was contained in a press release signed by the media officer of the club, Charles Mayuku and made available to Tidesports on Wednesday.
He said that the highly anticipated match is scheduled to take place at the 80,000-capacity Kinshasa-Complexe Omnisports Stade des Martyrs on morrow with kickoff slated for 3:30pm.
According to the statement the encounter marks the first-ever meeting between both sides in any competition, adding that an air of excitement and unpredictability to the fixture.
“As the Pride of Nigeria embarks on this crucial journey, the team is determined to return with a decent result that will set them up favorably for the second leg on Sunday, 28th September” the statement said.
The new rankings, released via FIFA’s official X handle on Thursday, reflect the team’s continued struggles under Coach Eric Chelle amid a stuttering 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.
This marks a second consecutive decline after the Nigerian side dropped from 43rd to 44th in August on the back of poor outings in recent international matches.
Despite Nigeria’s setback, several African teams made progress. Morocco remains the continent’s highest-ranked side, sitting 11th in the world after winning eight of their last nine matches. Senegal, Egypt, Algeria and Côte d’Ivoire complete Africa’s top five.
Lesotho slipped to 153rd place, while Benin Republic, Nigeria’s upcoming opponent, climbed to 93rd. South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, who held the Super Eagles to a 1-1 draw in June, rose to 55th, strengthening their bid for World Cup qualification.
Zimbabwe had the biggest slide down the ranking table, dropping nine places to 125th position in the world.
The rankings highlight Nigeria’s struggle to regain form on the global stage as key rivals continue to surge ahead.
Similarly, the Super Falcons of Nigeria remain 36th best in the world], while the Spanish female national team replaced the USA at the top of the women’s ranking.
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