Rivers United head coach, Stanley Eguma, has expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance following their 1-0 victory in the first leg of the CAF Confederations Cup quarterfinals. While he praised the team’s high intensity and early goal, Eguma lamented their missed opportunities to score more goals.
Speaking after the match, Eguma said, “It was a good game. I think the players, we had a very good game from the beginning of the match. We scored within the 10 minutes of the game because we had played with a high intensity and sure that we pressed them down, which yielded the early goal in the game.”
Despite the early lead and numerous scoring chances, Rivers United failed to capitalize on their dominance. Eguma acknowledged the missed opportunities and expressed disappointment that his side couldn’t extend their lead further. “One would have expected that the boys would have continued that way because we had a lot of scoring chances that early in the game. But unfortunately we couldn’t convert our chances,” he added.
While Rivers United controlled possession and looked dangerous on the counter-attack, they struggled to double their tally against their opponents. Eguma recognized the efforts of the opposition but felt that his team deserved a more convincing scoreline based on their performance.
“I think the opponents also had their own time, but we rightly outclassed them in this game because we had a lot of possession and we also dealt with them on counters, to ensure that we increased the tally, but unfortunately we couldn’t do that until the game finally came to an end,” Eguma explained. “I think the scoreline didn’t reflect to the standard of the game as we played.”
As Rivers United look to secure their place in the CAF Confederations Cup semifinals, Eguma will hope that his team can be more clinical in front of goal in the second leg and capitalize on their chances to seal their progression in the competition.
