The Confederation of African Football (CAF), yesterday, announced that the African Football League quarterfinal second leg game between Wydad Casablanca of Morocco and Nigeria’s Enyimba will be played tomorrow, instead of today, as earlier advertised.
This development, according to CAF, is to give Enyimba enough time to arrive in Casablanca and prepare for the game. Enyimba were supposed to arrive in Morocco on Monday, but the North Africans refused to grant them landing permit, thereby delaying the Nigerians’ trip till late yesterday.
The team had boarded their plane on Monday evening at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, for the trip, but they could not fly out as they awaited landing permit from Moroccan authorities.
The players and officials waited inside their chartered Air Peace plane for nearly six hours on Monday without any positive development, forcing the airline authorities to disembark the team at about 1.00 a.m.
“The airline booked two hotels for us even though it was difficult before we were checked in,” an Enyimba told a local website, exclusivenews.com.ng.
“As we speak now, we’re still in Lagos and don’t even know if or when we would fly out because the landing permit is yet to be received.” The team eventually received the clearance and left for Casablanca yesterday.
Following Enyimba’s complaints to CAF yesterday, the body after investigations, elected to move the game by 24 hours. The game will now hold tomorrow in Casablanca by 7.00 p.m.
Meanwhile, worried by the bad image brought to the country by Enyimba’s inability to provide a properly marked jersey for one of their stars during the first leg of the tie at the weekend, fans of the club have urged Abia State government to support the side adequately to avoid future embarrassment.
In Sunday’s game against the Moroccans in Uyo, Enyimba played without a complete set of jerseys, with the name and jersey number of one of the players, Innocent Gabriel, hurriedly handwritten on his shirt, rather than the standard printed version.
Some of the fans criticised the club chairman, former Super Eagles captain, Nwankwo Kanu, for the unusual occurrence, which they described as ‘a mystery’ and bad PR for the country and the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).
One of the fans said: “Enyimba playing a continental match with name and jersey number handwritten on their shirt is surprising given that they received N100 million after winning the NPFL title earlier this year. The money should have eased any potential financial difficulties the club might have faced. The governor should wade in as quickly as possible.”
Enyimba lost the game via a first half penalty, which Yahya Jabrane put past Enyimba captain and goalkeeper, Ojo Olorunleke, in the 39th minute.
