Enyimba head coach, Usman Abdallah has expressed that their preparations for the return leg of their Caf Confederation Cup semi-final tie are on course after they defeated their feeder team 1-0 in a friendly tie on Tuesday night.
A second-half own goal was enough to hand the People’s Elephant a precious win ahead of the must-win second leg tie against Raja Casablanca of Morocco next week Wednesday and Abdallah noted that emphasis was not on winning the game but having a proper look at his players.
He said he was delighted with the way his players played but that there is still room for improvement as they still have few more days to engage in the intensive build-up before the second leg fixture in Casablanca.
“It was a test game meant to see our preparation for the game in Morocco. We still have other matches too,” Abdallah told Goal.
“We wanted to see our players and how they will respond against our feeder team. They tried their best but they are not yet at the level we expected them. We shall continue our preparations and with more games to play we shall get it right before we travel to Morocco.”
Enyimba were beaten 1-0 at home in the first leg played in Aba and the former twice African champions must better the result they had against Raja in Casablanca if they are to qualify for the final.
Abdallah pointed out that anything could still happen in the second leg tie and that he is preparing a team that is fresher and injury free as they square up with the Moroccan club next week.
“We had issues with fatigue before now but the players have had sufficient time to rest and recover from that. We have players that are not tired against,” he continued.
“We hope to travel with a team that can qualify us for the final. We have been telling the players the importance of the second leg and they are aware too.”
