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By Abiodun Adewale.
Nigeria Professional Football League champions Rivers United are awaiting the decision of Africa’s football governing body, CAF, over the failure of their opponents Motema Pembe to honour their match-day four clash in Uyo on Wednesday, The PUNCH reports.
Rivers United and the Congolese side were scheduled to face-off in one of the matches for the day, but it was confirmed about an hour before kick-off that Motema Pembe were yet to arrive Nigeria.
“Officially, CAF TotalEnergies Confederation’s Cup Group B match number 127 Rivers United (Nigeria) vs DCMP (RD Congo) have been put off following the non-arrival of DC Motema Pembe. We await the decision of the Confederation of African Football (CAF),” Rivers United posted at the scheduled kick-off time of the game.
In an official communication sent to Rivers United by CAF, which was obtained by our correspondent, the governing body also said it would take a decision in due course.
“We have noted that the visiting team did not travel yet to Nigeria for the above-mentioned match. Therefore, we confirm that the match No. 127 will not take place today (Wednesday) as scheduled and a decision will be sent shortly to all concerned regarding this matter,” the message read.
However, Motema Pembe posted on Facebook that the game had already been rescheduled for Thursday (today).
“CAF accepts the exemptions of two concerned federations to postpone this match to tomorrow (today) at 20h (8pm). While waiting for the landing at midnight of the plane carrying our delegation, the officers of this encounter have been ordered by the CAF to postpone the event to tomorrow,” the club announced via its Facebook page, 14 minutes into the scheduled kick-off time of the game.
Ten-man Rivers United laboured to a 1-0 win over the Congolese in the first leg and the NPFL champions are targeting a win in the return fixture to ease their task of qualifying to the knockout stages.