By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s sole surviving team in the continent, Rivers United, are through to the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup after they defeated Etoile Filante of Burkina Faso 2-0 on home soil Sunday night.
Both teams had played out a scoreless draw in the first leg in Burkina Faso a fortnight ago, and it was looking again like there will be no goals in the reverse tie in Nigeria till Alex Oyowah popped up on 89 minutes to break the deadlock.
Oyowah doubled his team’s advantage in added time with his brace to make the game safe for the home team.
Before then, the Nigerian flag bearers had missed two penalties.
The Port Harcourt club are the only Nigerian club who have reached the mini-league rounds of a continental competition this year after Enyimba, Remo Stars and Bendel Insurance crashed out.
Other Results
Earlier, Egyptian giants, Zamalek who were on the verge of being eliminated by Djibouti’s Arta Solar showed their championship mettle with a hard-fought 4-1 victory to secure a narrow 4-3 aggregate scoreline to advance to the group stages of the competition.
The 2019 champions suffered a shock 2-0 away defeat in the first leg and were set for a disappointing exit after Arta Solar took the lead ahead of the break in Cairo.
In true championship pedigree, the former champions fought on to find the back of the net an impressive four times to send their fans into a rapture as they advanced further in what was dramatic encounter.
Sierra Leone side, Kallon FC were unlucky to miss out on a place in the group stages after a 1-1 stalemate against Dreams FC of Ghana meant they bowed out of the competition with a 3-2 aggregate defeat.
Cote d’Ivoire’s Afad Djekanou suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Guinea’s CO Coyah which saw them exit the competition for the Guinian side to advance with a 3-2 aggregate.
In Rwanda, Rayon Sports also crashed out of the competition in front of their home fans after playing out to a 1-1 draw against Libya’s Al Hilal Benghazi.
The stalemate meant the two sides had to decide the winner through the lottery of penalties following a similar scoreline in the first leg.
