Plateau United defender, Daniel Itodo has admonished his teammates to seize their chance in the first leg of their Caf Confederation Cup playoff round tie with USM Alger of Algeria on April 8 at home to score as many goals as possible in preparedness for a difficult return leg tie.
MFM were the last Nigerian club to visit Algeria where they were battered 6-0 under a freezing weather condition, but Itodo reckons that the key to their progress will be a good first leg performance at home which will make the return leg a difficult one for their hosts in Algiers.
“I still can’t believe that we are out of the Caf Champions League because it was actually what we prepared for and it would have been a good opportunity to showcase ourselves better,” Itodo told Goal.
“If we have to progress to the group stage, we must win the home game well by as many goals as possible so that by the time we go for the return leg, we will know that we are going there to fight to finish.
“Our demotion to the Caf Confederation Cup may be a blessing in disguise and we hope to seize our chance this term so that we won’t only qualify for the group stage but set out to win it.
“We have the players to get a good result in both legs against USM Alger but we must not be too overconfident because we are up against another North Africa side and the experience we had the last time against Etoile du Sahel should be fresh in our minds,” he said.
Plateau United were demoted from the Caf Champions League by Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia 4-3 on aggregate while USM Alger qualified to this stage after they pipped AS Maniema of Democratic Republic of Congo on the away goals rule with both legs ending 3-3 on aggregate.
The Nigerian league reigning champions will host the first leg on April 8 before the deciding leg in Algiers on either April 17 or 18.
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