Nigeria Football Federation president Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau has given a thumbs up to Rivers United and offered encouragement to Bayelsa Queens and the Super Eagles B team after their performances in midweek matches.
Rivers United held Al Nasr of Libya to a 1-1 draw at the Benina Martys Stadium in Benghazi on Wednesday night to qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup group stage 6-1 on aggregate.
Their feat came hours after fellow Nigerian representatives Plateau United blew a 4-1 first leg advantage to lose 3-0 to Al Akhdar FC in the second leg and crash out on away goals.
“On behalf of the NFF board and the generality of Nigerian football stakeholders, I congratulate Rivers United on their credible outing and I wish them success in the group stage. They did well to sustain the Nigeria flag in the competition,” Gusau said.
Although Bayelsa Queens lost 1-0 in the semi-finals of the CAF Women’s Champions League to hosts AS FAR of Morocco in Rabat also on Wednesday night, Gusau was pleased with their solid outing.
“On their part, Bayelsa Queens also gave their best in the semi-finals of the CAF Women Champions League in Morocco against home team, ASFAR FC,” he added.
“I was hoping they would reach the final so that we would go and support them but they were not disgraced all the same. They should take the lessons from the defeat to do better next time. They should also fight hard for the bronze medals in order not to come back home empty-handed.”
The Nigeria Women’s Football League champions will face Simba Queens of Tanzania in the third place match tomorrow, while AS FAR will battle holders Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in the final on Sunday.
“As I have reiterated several times, the new NFF board will provide tremendous encouragement for Nigerian women’s football to return strongly to its rightful place on the African continent and at global level,” Gusau added.
Reacting to the Super Eagles’ 2-0 defeat against World Cup-bound Costa Rica in San Jose in the early hours of Wednesday, Gusau challenged the coaching crew and the players to take hard lessons from the loss and commit to returning to winning ways henceforth.
“Costa Rica are heading to the World Cup and were highly spurred on by their fans, but then we are Nigeria and we should always have it in mind that our people want us to win all the time. I am not saying they did not give a good performance; they should know that winning matters.
“The new NFF board will be concerned with players that don our green-and-white going out for wins, whether they play in competitive and friendly matches.
“It is not enough to try or to make an effort; winning mentality is key. They tried their best in the game but they should learn from this and know that next time, they have to go all out to win or avoid defeat.”
