BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

It may turn out to be the most fiercely contested Match Day 5 in the CAF Confederation Cup as Nigeria’s Enyimba face Al-Masry of Egypt.

Both sides face zero option as neither will want to drop a point going into the last match day of the Group D. Just a point separates the second-placed Al-Masry and the fourth-positioned Enyimba who share the same points, 4 with Mozambique’s Associação Black Bulls.

The Mozambique side is however ranked third on account of away goals scored in head-to-head matches. Black Bulls scored one against Enyimba who fired blank away, although both have a three-goal margin win in their respective home games.

A win by Enyimba will take the team to second position with seven points leaving Al-Masry with five. The projection is based on the likely win of Zamalek over visiting Mozambique’s Associação Black Bulls.

By that, Zamalek, with possible 10 point,  will become the breakaway leaders of the group, leaving Enyimba to battle fiercely for the second Group D slot.

Such a scenario has made the Uyo match a potentially high-risk and possibly bitterly contested.

Al-Masry director, Mohamed Abdel-Karim is quoted by Egyptian publication, Ahram as expressing deep concerns.

He acknowledged the tough road ahead for his team in securing a quarterfinal berth, primarily as the outcome hinges on the last round of group-stage matches.

“Our players are mentally prepared and focused on attaining a positive outcome against Enyimba,” Abdel-Karim affirmed in anticipation of the upcoming game.

“The significance of this match against Enyimba is well understood by our players, given its pivotal role in our quest for the quarterfinals,” he stressed.

He highlighted the team’s aspirations, “We harbour great ambitions and will exert maximum effort to delight our supporters.”

File Photo: Al-Masry Midfielder Ahmed El Armouty in action during the match with Enyimba. Photo courtesy of Al-Masry Facebook page.

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Egyptian side, Al-Masry will face a setback in Sunday’s CAF Confederation match with Enyimba in Uyo.

They will be without the services of talented winger Karim El-Eraky due to suspension resulting from accumulated yellow cards.

In November 2024, in the initial group stage encounter, Masry secured a convincing 2-0 victory over Enyimba in their home fixture.

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BY PETER KANJERE, PANA

Botswana’s Orapa United coach Gadimang Tiiso has downplayed that his team is yet to score in the CAF Confederation Cup group stage going into their penultimate Group C encounter against USM Alger on Sunday.

In a pre-match press conference on Saturday, Tiiso said the seven goals they have conceded without scoring in four games do not reveal the whole story about Orapa’s debut showing in the competition.

“If you look at our performance from the first game, the team is doing well,” he said.  “We lost but the performance was very good. The group is still open; we can qualify. We must take one game at a time going into the next game. We need to focus more and approach it with a winning mentality that even though we are at the bottom of the group, we also want to progress to the quarterfinals.”

The coach for the Botswana team insisted that they learned lessons from their 6-0 loss to the Algerians in the first leg and were ready to improve their performance on Sunday.

“This is a completely different game and a completely different approach. We also drew lessons which we can’t reveal. We have nothing to lose in this game tomorrow. We will still approach it with a winning mentality,” Tiiso added.

Going into Sunday’s game at Obed Itani Chilume Stadium in Francistown, Orapa anchor Group C with two points. The debutants lie a distant six points behind leaders USM Alger and three behind second and third positioned ASEC Mimosas and ASC Jaraaf from Ivory Coast and Senegal.

Orapa lost 6-0 to USM Alger, drew 0-0 with ASEC, chalked a similar result against ASC Jaraaf at home in Botswana then lost 1-0 to the Senegalese opponents in Dakar. Orapa will wind up their Group C assignments by facing ASEC Mimosas next Sunday.

-PANA