“I am very proud to be the coach of Gor Mahia and of course I want to achieve big things and make history with the club. We start to work very hard to win games in the league and put Gor Mahia in the group stage of the Confederation Cup, that is my target here.”
On whether he has enough time to prepare the team for their Confederation Cup play-off fixture against Napsa Stars of Zambia, Pinto said: “Yes, of course, the time is not on our side, we don’t have enough time to analyse our opponents, analyse and study how they play, we want to put strong training sessions and give them [my players] a winning mentality, so I think together we can achieve group stage qualification.”
Enyimba to face Rivers United or Bloemfontein Celtic in Confederation Cup play-off Goal 08/01/2021 Shina Oludare
Enyimba will face either Rivers United or South Africa’s Bloemfontein Celtic in the play-off round of the Caf Confederation Cup.
Following their 4-2 defeat on aggregate to Sudan’s Al Merreikh in the Caf Champions League first round, the two-time African champions got relegated to the second-tier competition of African club football.
And going by the pairing conducted at Caf Headquarter in Cairo on Friday, Fatai Osho’s men would be gunning for glory – albeit, they must negotiate their way past their Nigeria Professional Football League rivals or the South African topflight side.
“This will be my first Caf game and I am excited about it all,” Ssenyonjo told the club’s official website. “I want to continue with my good run and also score in Caf, the team needs goals and this is why I am on the team, I hope to score and help my team qualify and justify the coach’s faith in me.”
On Caf cancelling their first leg and handing the advantage to AS Kigali, Ssenyonjo said: “To be honest we were so disappointed when the first leg was cancelled but all that is now in the past.
“We write to bring to your attention that A Merreikh SC communicated to us its schedule to arrive in Nigeria on Saturday, 2nd January 2021 at about 1800hrs via chartered flight through Port Harcourt International Airport. Thus, we mobilize resources in readiness to receive the team as scheduled,” the statement from NFF read.
“However, on 1st January, 2021, we received another correspondence intimating us of its arrival on Saturday, 2nd January 2021 via EgyptAir at about 1345hrs. We deployed vehicles to Port Harcourt Airport and personnel to Lagos Airport in anticipation of the arrival of the team in any of the two entry points.
“We are experienced players and we know if we continue to believe in ourselves and not dwell so much on it, it can motivate us to go on a good run.
“The coaches have been speaking to us, counselling us to remain optimistic, and if every player can handle it that way, then we can bounce back easily.”
Fatai Osho’s men commence their 2020-21 Nigeria Professional Football League campaign with a local derby against Abia Warriors on Tuesday, and the Mohammed wants his side to start building their poise from that duel.
“Abia Warriors is not an easy game but we have to start from there,” he added.