ASEC Mimosas
Rivers United recorded their first win in the CAF Confederation Cup group stage by beating ASEC Mimosas 3-0 in Uyo.
Rivers United forward, Nyima Nwagua has expressed his disappointment following the team’s defeat to Diable Noir on Sunday.
Nigeria’s Lobi Stars will be looking for their first away win in this season CAF Champions League when they visit Asec Mimosa of Abidjan for their second Group A game on Saturday.
Lobi began their group stage adventure with a 2–1 victory over Mamelodi Sundown of South Africa and will hoping to pick their first away point in the competition against the Ivorian s which lost 5-2 away to table toppers Wydad Casablanca.
Asec Mimosas last won the competition in 1998 and Coach Amani Yao has warned his side that the can’t afford to let Lobi Stars running away with a point the Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan if they are to remain firmly in the competition.
“We tried to work to erase our mistakes, the mistakes we made in Rabat , so that we can try to be successful on Saturday, ” Yao said.
“We will try to approach this game well , whether in attack or defence. We will have to be effective in front of goal.”
Meanwhile Lobi coach Solomon Ogbeide on his part, said his boys are aware of what they have to do as they search for their second successive win in Group A.
“We haven ’ t won anything yet but we can now build on the victory against Mamelodi Sundowns to focus on the next game against ASEC.
“We have a good spirit , and remain positive going for the away game against ASEC and we are going to take the game to them in Abidjan .
“There are no small teams in the group and we are still the underdogs because the other three teams , ASEC, Wydad and Sundowns are past winners of the Champions League.”
Lobi will be without some key plays for the tie as midfielder John Lawrence is serving a two match ban by CAF , Striker Alimi Sikiru Alimi , Samad Kadiri , and Anthony Agbaji are reportedly havingtrials in Europe.
“We will have to focus our strategy around those that are available. We did the same thing against Sundowns and we won.
We know it will not be easy especially since they lost their first match and they are at home. But we want to get all the points we can before facing the North Africans who will be tough for us as well , ” the veteran coach said .