Desmond Iwuchukwu
Malachi Ohawume and Paul Acquah struck in quick succession to help Rivers United come from behind to secure a 2-1 first-leg advantage against Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco in their TotalEnergies CAF Champions League first preliminary round tie on Sunday.
Bouly Sambou put Wydad AC ahead at the Adokiye Amiesimaka after 32 minutes, but the game turned when Malachi Ohawume finished off an assist from Nyima Nwagua just 2 minutes after the restart to level.
Paul Acquah put up a five-star performance and capped it with the match-winner in the 53rd minute firing into the top left corner of the net a beautiful setup by Morice Chukwu to ensure Coach Stanley Eguma’s side take advantage of the Stade Mohammed V stadium in Casablanca for the second leg at the weekend.
Technical Manager Stanley Eguma insisted after the match that Rivers United should not be written off just yet.
“It’s tight but I am very optimistic, it’s a game of football. If you look at the standard of the game today, Wydad AC was not far better than us (Rivers United).”
“All we need do is to summon the courage and then make our tactical plans on how to play them in Morocco. It’s a difficult terrain but it’s football, it’s not mathematics.”
“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.”
