Drawn against the defending champions USM Alger in the CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinals, Nigeria’s only team left in Africa’s inter-club competitions, Rivers United, will have a difficult challenge ahead of them.
On Tuesday, in Cairo, the CAF Confederation Cup and CAF Champions League quarterfinal draws were held.
After emerging from Group C in second place, Rivers set up the matchup with the winners of Group A. They will look to make tournament history by being the first Nigerian side to advance past the semi-finals since Enyimba in 2018.
Ahead of the fixtures, Rivers United captain, Nyima Nwagua, restated their commitment to perform better than they did last season, when they were eliminated by Young Africans of Tanzania in the last eight.
“We have kept our focus on the next stage and ready for whatever the outcome would be. We knew it was going to be a North African team and now that we know precisely, we just have to channel our preparations properly. We want to make a statement as well,” Nwagua told our correspondent.
In other quarter-finals fixtures, Future FC and Zamalek will clash in an all-Egypt affair, Abu Salim from Libya face Moroccans RS Berkane, while Dreams FC of Ghana battle Stade Malien of Mali.
If Rivers United are able to scale the USM Alger hurdle, they will face the winners of the match between Abu Salim and RS Berkane in the semi-finals.
The first legs of the quarterfinals will be played March 31 with the return legs scheduled for April 7.
Meanwhile, the quarterfinals draw of the CAF Champions League also present some tantalising matches which will see Simba FC of Tanzania face record winners Al Ahly of Egypt, Esperance of Tunisia and ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast) battle, TP Mazembe (DR Congo) against Petro de Luanda (Angola) while Young Africans (Tanzania) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) tie complete the fixtures.
