Rivers United head coach Stanley Eguma says he is confident his team can overcome Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca in the return leg of their CAF Champions League first round second leg tie.
In the reverse fixture played in Port Harcourt on Sunday, NPFL champions Rivers United came from a goal down to beat Wydad 2-1.
CAF Champions League holders, Wydad, took the lead in the 32nd minute through Senegal forward Bouly Junior Sambou.
Malachi Ohawume equalised for Rivers United two minutes later.
And Ghanaian import Paul Acquah gave Rivers United the lead for the first time in the game with a clinical finish in the 53rd minute.
And despite the slim first leg advantage Eguma expressed confidence that Rivers United have what it takes to stop Wydad and qualify for the group stage of the competition.
“It’s tight but I am very optimistic, it’s a game of football. If you look at the standard of the game Wydad AC was not far better than us,” Eguma said in his post-match analysis.
“All we need do is to summon courage and then make our tactical plans on how to play them in Morocco. It’s a difficult terrain but its football, its not mathematics.
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“I know a lot of people will write us off but I want to let you know that it is not yet over.
“Within us, we know that we have a big fight to do and am assuring you that we will not go there to sleep but to work and also put them under severe pressure to see that we get passage through to the group stage.”
Eguma lamented his side’s wastefulness in front of goal, stating that a wider margin would have given them a better advantage ahead of the second leg.
He said:”Scoring us early in the game that goal destabilized us but I commend the players for their courage, composure, comportment and they showed character.
“Though we lost many scoring chances and if we had converted our chances the game could have ended may be 3-1 or 4-1, which would have given us some advantage but you can’t take anything away from the Moroccans.“
