Nigerian champions Enyimba FC will arrive in Kigali City on Friday ahead of the first leg of the quarter-final round of the CAF Confederations Cup against Rayon Sports Fc which will be staged on Sunday at Stade de Kigali.
Kick-off to Sunday’s game is at 15:00.
The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) confirmed the arrival details of Enyimba FC on Tuesday. They will arrive on Friday night, 9pm aboard Rwandair from Lagos.
The eight-time Rwandan National Football League champions were the best team on the road during the group phase as they claimed two draws, away at Young Africans and USM Alger, while bagging a big win at Gor Mahia. These results were crucial in seeing them finish second, two points behind USM.
Rayon scored six goals, of which three were away. Only against Young Africans did they not find the back of the net in the group, and this is an indication of their threat going forward.
Enyimba, ended the wait when they pulled through to the final eight at the conclusion of their group-stage campaign with a 1-0 home win over CARA Brazzaville to ensure they finished top of Group C.
For Enyimba, it’s their first time they’ve progressed this far in Africa’s second-tier club competition, having only previously gone as far as the final qualification round in 2010, and this is uncharted territory for the People’s Elephant.
Meanwhile, striker Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana was reported recently saying Rayon Sports are eagerly aiming to go past Enyimba when both teams meet in the quarter-final of this year’s Caf Confederation Cup.
The Gikundiro dropped out of this year’s Caf Champions League first round to the second-tier club competition following a 2-0 loss on aggregate to Mamelodi Sundowns.
The Rwandans defeated Mozambique’s Costa do Sol 3-2 in the playoffs round before securing nine points to pip Kenya’s Gor Mahia and Tanzania’s Young Africans to claim the second spot behind winners USM Alger in Group D.
And the striker, who netted twice in the group stages, is pleased with Monday’s draw but is unmoved by the reputation and success of the Nigerian giants in Caf’s club championship.
“I must say that we are all happy with the outcome of the quarter-final draw,” Bimenyimana told Goal.
“We are indeed excited to be drawn against Enyimba at this stage and already looking forward to the game. First of all, we all black and we play almost the same football across the continent.
“Secondly, we had big games during our qualification matches from the Caf Champions League and the group stages. We are not scared at all. We already met tougher teams like Mamelodi Sundown, Costa do Sol, USM Alger and many more to get to this level.
“We worked hard as a team for us to qualify to the quarterfinal of the Caf Confederation Cup. It was not an easy feat. We will definitely be ready to have a team like Enyimba. The match will be definitely tough but we are ready to play any team because our ambition is to win the title.”
The Rwandans welcome Usman Abdullah’s men to Kigali for the first leg on September 16 before visiting Nigeria for the second leg a week later in Aba.
Source: Ferwafa.rw
The Express News
