It is 17 years since a Nigerian club last won the CAF Champions League while no side has made it to the final of a continental tournament since Amaju Pinnick took over the NFF in 2014
By Fisayo Dairo
It would always take something extra-ordinary to stop Rivers United at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt. The Pride of Rivers’ home invincibility had seen them win each of their ten home games this term (before Sunday) and conceded just one goal in the process.
However, it was River United’s bogey side Abia Warriors that halted that domineering run on Sunday when they put up a dogged defensive display to earn a deserved point as the Match-day 22 encounter ended in a 0-0 draw.
Warriors Head Coach, Imama Amapakabo, himself a Rivers ‘boy’ was going to do everything to avoid the ignominious record of having lost home and away against Rivers United this season – the reverse fixture having ended in a 0-1 defeat for his side at the Enyimba Stadium, Aba in January.
Fisayo Dairo
Rivalries in global club football have often been confined within geographical co-locations. There’s also national rivalries such as Nigeria-Ghana, Argentina-Brazil etc.
These rivals tend to put every happening around them aside and throw everything to games that pit them together.
Players’ movements across these teams are also accompanied by resentment from fans of the departing club, fuelling the tension among both groups when and where their paths cross again.
For Enyimba FC of Aba, two-time African Champions League winners and Rivers United of Port Harcourt (formerly Dolphins), there has been a good dose of rivalry for the past two decades during which they consistently played in Nigeria’s top flight league.