Gusau hails Rivers United

Encourages Eagles B and Bayelsa Queens to learn from defeats

Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, president of the NFF

By Rasheed Adewuyi

Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, president of Nigeria Football Federation, reacted to some matches by Nigeria’s representatives worldwide on Wednesday, praising Rivers United FC for standing strong to emerge as the only Nigeria team left in continental club competitions after a midweek of action across Africa.

The Pride of Rivers dug their feet into the turf of the Benina Martys Stadium in Benghazi, Libya, to earn a 1-1 draw with Al Naser FC and qualified for the CAF Confederation Cup group stage on a 6-1 aggregate.

Their feat came hours after fellow Nigeria flagbearers Plateau United imploded in a rather poor final four minutes to lose 0-3 to Al Akhdar FC on the same turf, wiping out their three-goal advantage from the first leg.

“On behalf of the NFF Board and the generality of Nigeria Football stakeholders, I congratulate Rivers United on their credible outing and wish them success on the group stage.

They did well to sustain the Nigeria flag in the competition,” Gusau said.

“On their part, Bayelsa Queens also gave their best in the CAF Women Champions League semi-finals in Morocco against the home team, ASFAR FC. I was hoping they would reach the Final so that we would go and support them, but they were not disgraced all the same.

They should take the lessons from the defeat to do better next time.

They should also fight hard for the bronze medals to not return home empty-handed.”

The Queens lost by the odd goal to ASFAR and will now play Simba Queens of Tanzania for the third place, while ASFAR battle Cup holders Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in the final.

“As I have reiterated several times, the new NFF Board will provide tremendous encouragement for Nigeria women’s football to return strongly to its rightful place on the African continent and at the global level,” Gusau added.

Reacting to the Super Eagles’ 2-0 defeat against World Cup-bound Costa Rica in San Jose in the early hours of Wednesday, Gusau challenged the coaching crew and the players to take hard lessons from the loss and commit to returning to winning ways henceforth.

“Costa Rica was heading to the World Cup and was highly spurred on by their fans, but then we are Nigeria, and we should always remember that our people want us to win all the time. I am not saying they did not perform well; they should know that winning matters,” He insisted.

“The new NFF Board will be concerned with players that wear our green-and-white going out for wins, whether they play in competitive or friendly matches. It is not enough to try or to make an effort; a winning mentality is key. They tried their best in the game, but they should learn from this and know they must go all out to win or avoid defeat next time.”

Oscar Duarte opened the scoring for Los Ticos seven minutes into the game when he sliced past goalkeeper Kayode Bankole off a free-kick from the left by Joel Campbell.

Attack-minded defender Dominion Ohaka danced his way into the Los Ticos’ eighteen-yard box in the 18^th minute, but his shot flew over the bar.

Bankole made several good saves, but the Eagles’ forwards could not mine fortune from the few opportunities that came their way. In the 73^rd minute, Kendall Waston headed over the Nigeria goalkeeper and a defender into the net off a pull-out from the left by Campbell.

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