Rivers United will not be buoyed by their previous results against Tanzanian club, Young Africans, when they meet in the first leg quarter-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup in Uyo on Sunday.
The Nigeria Professional Football League champions are the only Nigerian representatives on the continent this season and will hope to progress as far as possible, having reached the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
Both clubs met in 2021 during the first preliminary round of the CAF Champions League with Rivers United winning both ties.
Ahead of their meeting on Sunday, Rivers United coach, Stanley Eguma, says they won’t be carried away.
“We are not relying on past performances because no two games are the same and we know Yanga have improved a lot since the last time we met. They are doing better in their domestic league and they also topped their group in this competition,” Eguma said.
“We are coming with renewed vigour and we are trying to push ourselves to do more than what we did the last time and brush them off our way. We are coming with a mentality that is needed to face a strong team in the competition.”
In the group stage, Rivers won two out of their three home games to amass 10 points and finish second in Group B, earning a place in the knockout round of the competition for the first time in the club’s history.
The return leg of the clash will take place in Dar es Salam on Sunday April 30, and the winners of the two-legged encounter will progress into the semi-finals to face either South Africa’s Marumo Gallants or Pyramids of Egypt.
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