Rayon Sports are living no stone unturned in their preparations for the CAF Confederation
Cup playoff round, first leg match against Rivers United which is slated for April 15, in
Port Harcourt—the second leg will be played on April 22 at Amahoro National Stadium in
Kigali.
Djuma Masudi’s team started training this at Stade de Kigali in Nyamirambo and they are
supposed to travel to Nigeria on April 13, two days before the match.
“The whole squad is in good shape and we want to keep the winning spirit from the national
league. We want to play good football but the most important thing is to win matches. Our
confidence is pretty high and hopefully we can get a good away result,” Masudi said
He added, “We are doing well for sure but we know it is hard to get good results in
Nigeria. We are preparing well for the first leg so that we can come back with hope of
qualifying for the next stage.”
“We are going to give everything we can to get a result in the first leg. We will be
looking to score but at the same time make sure we keep it tight at the back. Going by
some of their videos that we’ve managed to watch, they play a physical game and we have to
match them in that aspect.”
Rayon Sports reached the play-off round after their first round, second leg match against
Malian side Onze Createurs was cancelled after FIFA’s suspended the Malian FA.
Nigerian side Rivers United were knocked out of the CAF Champions League by El-Merreikh of
Sudan following a 4-0 defeat in Khartoum after winning the first leg 3-0.
The winner between Rayon Sports and Rivers United will proceed to the lucrative Champions
League group stage.
Port Harcourt-based Rivers United F.C was formed by the merger of Sharks F.C and Dolphins
F.C in 2016–their stadium, Liberation Stadium in River State, has a seating capacity of
30,000.
They finished second in the Nigerian Premier League last season but are currently
struggling on 19th position in the 20-team league table, with 17 points albeit having
three games less than most teams