Abd’Allah: Enyimba fear no foe in Confederation Cup

Enyimba International FC coach has alluded to the popular dictum that only the grass would suffer wherever the People’s Elephants after they were drawn in Group D for the 2019-20 Total CAF Confederation Cup group stage.

In the  draw conducted yesterday  at the  CAF Headquarters in Cairo by CAF Director of Competitions  Samson Adamu assisted by Uganda’s football legend Edgar Watson and DR Congo’s former captain Herita Ilunga ,Enyimba were  drawn against Cote d’Ivoire’s San Pedro, Algeria’s Paradou and Morocco’s Hassania Agadir. 

But Abd’Allah said there was no cause for alarm:

“ At this stage,  we are waiting for anybody  and you know that any team that  has gotten to the stage must have worked so well to  here.   So, we are going to prepare  very well for all the  matches.

“ Now the goal is for us to get to the quarter-finals by whatever means whether we top the group or come second is immaterial; we just have to do our best and get to the quarter-finals first before we can set another goal for ourselves.”

No Nigerian club has won the  CAF Confederation Cup since its launch in 2004 and only the defunct Dolphins FC of Port Harcourt had gone all the way  to the final but they lost 3-1 on aggregate  to Moroccan side Association Sportive des Forces Armées Royales in the 2005 finale.

“ Football is changing  and we are going to reckon with the fact that Nigerian clubs have not done recently well especially against teams from North Africa,” admitted the 45-year-old who led  Enyimba   to semi-finals   of the CAF Confederations Cup before losing to Raja Casablanca of Morocco in the 2018 edition.

“  This time, we are going to do things differently b  and we are going to get all the information about all the teams in our group.  Our focus now is to reach the quarter-final first.”

Meanwhile, in the other groupings, Egypt’s duo of  Al MAsry and newcomers Pyramids will lock horns together in Group A, which also includes Mauritanian debutants Noadhibou and Nigeria’s Rangers.

Group B will see a Western derby between Mali’s Djoliba and Guinea’s Horoya, while South Africa’s Bidvest Wits and Libya’s El Nasr complete the pool.

Last season losing finalists RS Berkane of Morocco heads group C with DR Congo’s Motema Pembe, Zambia’s Zanaco and Benin debutants ESAE.

The Group stage kicks off on 1 December 2019.