It’s The First Time But… ANAEMENA
By Frank Okoye
Orangeman
Enyimba FC defender Ifeanyi Anaemena is optimistic the People’s Elephant will prevail over Rahimo FC of Burkina Faso in the return leg of their CAF Champions League preliminary round, regardless of the home side prosecuting the must win match behind closed doors.
Anaemena who is considered by many as Enyimba’s best player of the immediate past season in Nigeria top flight spoke to Rhema FM Sports at the final whistle of the team’s last preparatory game against Destiny FC, a Port Harcourt based amateur side coached by former Enyimba player Kennedy Chinwo.
Nicknamed The Rock of Gibraltar by a host of Enyimba fans, Anaemena was an unused substitute in the friendly that ended 6 – 1 in favor of the two time African Champions at the Enyimba Stadium.
The top scoring defender in the NPFL last season says the game against Rahimo FC in Aba will definitely be tough as the Aba landlords will be missing the backing of the twelfth man.
He said, “It is going to be a tough game for us because we (Enyimba) have not played behind closed doors before and this being the first time, I know it is going to be hectic and our fans cheering us up has been a big boost for us while playing. So without the fans it is going to be kinda tough for us but I known God’s grace we are going to push harder to make sure we qualify to the next round.
On Enyimba winning all their friendlies ahead of Rahimo’s visit, he believes that in as much as friendlies are not to be compared to competitive games, the positive results recorded in the preparatory matches will raise the confidence of players as he has already seen a lot of improvement in the team.
On his thoughts on Enyimba new arrivals, he says there is love amongst the old and newly signed players which underlines why blending has not been a problem.
Recall that Enyimba FC lost to Rahimo FC of Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou a fortnight ago by 1 – 0 in the CAF Champions League preliminary round.
That simply means that the host must beat the Burkinabes by two clear goals to make it to the next round.
The return leg takes place behind closed doors at the Enyimba International Stadium on Sunday 25 August 2019 with kickoff at 4:00 pm.