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By Abiodun Adewale.
Rivers United striker Nyima Nwagua has blamed the team’s 3-0 defeat against Diable Noirs in their first group game of the 2023 CAF Confederation Cup to their inability to convert chances.
The Nigeria Professional Football League champions began their campaign on the continent with a humbling defeat in Congo Brazzaville on Sunday, leaving them bottom of the table.
Carl Wunda, Jaures Ngombe and Domi Massoumou all scored for the hosts within seven minutes after the half hour mark.
Aside from Ebube Duru’s penalty miss in the second half, Nwagua was at the end of few chances for the Pride of Rivers, who couldn’t reduce the deficit despite dominating the game, especially in the second half.
“The atmosphere was good, but honestly the scoreline didn’t reflect play. We are already directing our focus to the next game and we will go back to review some of the things we didn’t do correctly. We played well and created chances, even after they scored us, but unfortunately, we couldn’t take them,” Nwagua said.
Rivers United’s next group game is against ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast who were held at home by Motema Pembe in the other group game on Sunday and Nwagua is already aware of the complexity of their next challenge.
“Now we are playing a team that drew at home and that will be tougher because they will be trying to get it right, but we are aware of how they might be coming, so we are also trying to redeem our confidence by getting a good result at home. We are going to stay focused and we already picked the positives from our first game,” he added.
Rivers United will arrive the country on Tuesday (today) and have an outstanding NPFL match-day seven game to honour against Bayelsa United on Wednesday in Port Harcourt.