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By: Abiodun Adewale
Nigeria’s only remaining team in Africa’s inter-club competitions, Rivers United, face a daunting task in the quarter-finals of this season’s CAF Confederation Cup after being drawn against reigning champions USM Alger, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The quarter-finals draws for the CAF Confederation Cup and the CAF Champions League were made in Cairo on Tuesday.
Rivers set up the meeting with the Group A toppers after qualifying from Group C in second place and they will hope to reach the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time in their history and also become the first Nigerian team to do so 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 quarter-finals will be played March 31 with the return legs scheduled for April 7.
Meanwhile, the quarter-finals 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.