CAF CL, CC Eliminations: Plateau United Apologise, Kano Pillars Blame Referee
By Amaechi Agbo
Plateau United of Jos has apologized to their fans and well-wishers after the team ingloriously crashed out of the 2021 CAF Champions League campaign in the first preliminary round on Saturday
The Jos based side played out a 0-0 draw against their opponents in Tanzania to crash out of the continental league on 1-0 aggregate score.
Plateau United had on Sunday last week lost 1-0 at home in Jos against Simba SC and needed at least 2-0 win to qualify to the next round. That feat was not achieved as they were bundled out in the first preliminary round.
However, the team which travelled to Tanzania with 45 delegates have apologised for their inability to go beyond the first stage
“We apologise to all our fans and well-wishers,” the club said on Twitter
Adding “We wanted more, but we fell short. We’ve learned lessons.”
However, on their on part, CAF Confederation Cup campaigners, Kano Pillars who failed to score at home in Kaduna on Saturday and got eliminated on 3-1 aggregate score, blamed their woes on the referee.
Coach of Kano Pillars Coach, Emmanuel Lionel Soccia in an interview with sports writers after the game, said they suffered bad officiating in both legs of the game.
“The game was successful. Though in the first game poor officiating from two offside goals against us. We deserved two penalties in today’s (yesterday) game and were denied.
“The officiating was bad. If you have a good referee, the game would have been good,” he declared.
Nigerians await the outcome of the matches between Enyimba of Aba and Rahimo FC of Burkina Faso in the CAF Champions League and the Rivers United and Futuro Kings in the CAF Confederation Cup today to know the date of the NPFL representatives in the CAF interclub competitions.
The two matches will be played in Aba and Port Harcourt, in that order.