Let me start with the often regurgitated statement that athletes make after coming short at sporting events –
“Not the result we wanted, but.. blah…blah… blah.”
This is in response to the largely listless outing of Enyimba FC against Al Masry SC in Egypt on Wednesday. And to a lesser extent, attempts by some rival fans to sink their teeth in our skin, in a bid to have a taste of some sort of success. Talk of an Igbo adage – Ukwu jie Agu,mgbada abiaya ukwo. Loosely translated – A lame lion attracts the audacious visits of lesser animals. As an Enyimba fan, there’s nothing more to do than to keep our heads up and refuse to despair. It’s just the first of six games ,hence there is still a lot to play for. Five games to negotiate and 15 points still on offer.
While it’s important to start on a good and solid footing by winning your first game, to get a foot in the door, early. It’s worth noting that in a round-robin format, every team will have a double -shot at one another and the opportunity to take a pound of flesh. Enyimba will be banking on their institutional experience in Continental campaigns, garnered over the decades to navigate this false start and scale the hurdles on their way to making the cut for the knockout stages.
Enyimba International FC’s Continental weight is largely about the back-to-back CAF Champions League triumphs in 2003 and 2004, as the matchday commentator rehashed at every turn yesterday in the course of the CAFCC match. However little is stated about the Aba giants modest inroads to the later stages of the CAF Confederation Cup since their first shot in the competition in the 2009/10 season.
This season marks a 6th attempt in Africa’s second tier club competition, with their best outing coming in the 2017/18 season as the Coach Usman Abdallah-led side, reached the semi-final, losing to eventual champions – Raja Casablanca of Morocco. Two quarterfinal finishes followed in successive seasons – 2019/20 and 2020/21.
To equal or surpass the club’s best outing in the competition seems a tall order, due to the goal-drought that plague the team.The goal-scoring woes employ of the team continues to stick out like a sore thumb. Three matches into this continental campaign, zero goals.It’s a disturbing trend that needs to be nipped in the bud. Goals win games. When you don’t score, it emboldens the opposition to have a go at you.
Coach Yema has his work clearly cut out for him. He needs to work on a cohesive attacking play and patterns to achieve clinical finishes in the final third of the pitch. Goals are catalysts for winning games.
No goal, No win.
