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Enyimba flounder, play 1-1 with Esperance
By Peter Edema
Snr.
Correspondent,
Lagos
Confederation of African Football (CAF)
Champions League defending champions, Enyimba Football Club of Aba’s
chances of a successful defence of the cup it won last year became slimmer when
it forced visiting Esperance Football Club of Tunisia to a 1-1 draw in the
first leg semi-finals clash played in Aba on Sunday.
The Aba team’s equaliser came in the
83rd minute through Eric Fasudor who took a right footer inside the box, after
the Tunisians got the curtain raiser in the 73rd minute off a free kick that
left an attacker, Jaouar Mnari, open. The kick, taken from the left flank,
found an attacker on the edge of the 18 yard box, who took a right footed
volley that caught goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama napping.
Enyimba have themselves to blame for the
outcome of the encounter that put the champions’ title defence on a tight
rope. If the team had taken half of the chances that came its way, the score
would have been a different story.
The game, which began with Enyimba taken
the kick-off, witnessed a barrage of misses in the first half by the home side
in the 16th, 30th, 35th and 38th minutes.
The first goal opportunity in the game
offered itself in the 16th minute with Esperance goalkeeper at the mercy of
Emeka Nwanna, who threw the chance away.
Enyimba wasted an indirect free kick in the
21st minute when the ball hit the defensive wall mounted by the Tunisians. It
was the turn of Aliu Musa in the 30th, who, left unmarked in the six-yard box,
shot wide off a corner kick.
Nwana again had another opportunity to
write his name on the scores sheet, but flittered it away. The first half ended
goalless.
On resumption of the second stanza, the
barrage of misses continued with the visitors breaking the ice in the 73rd
minute when an unmarked Esperance attacker, Mnari, took a first-time volley off
a free kick from the left flank that caught Enyeama hands down.
Enyimba, however, fought back with the
Tunisian goalkeeper, Jen-Jacques Tizie, standing between Enyimba and goal. But
in the 85th minute, Fasudor’s right footer sailed into the net for the
equaliser that restored a bit of hope to the defending champions of advancing
to the finals.
The second leg of the clash comes up in
Tunisia in a fortnight.
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