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The reigning Nigeria Premier Football League champions, Enyimba, couldn’t win the first leg of their Africa Football League (AFL) campaign.
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On Sunday, October 22, Enyimba hosted Moroccan side, Wydad Casablanca at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo for their first Africa Football League outing which ended in a 1-0 defeat.
For the NPFL champions to advance to the money-spinning semi-final round, they are condemned to beat Wydad Casablanca in Morocco on Wednesday.
During the first leg in Uyo on Sunday, Yahya Jabrane scored the game’s only goal in the 39th minute, deftly converting from the spot past Ojo Olorunleke, the goalkeeper and captain of Enyimba.
Enyimba had a couple of opportunities, but they wasted them by not being coordinated in the final third of the pitch.
However, it was the visitors who worsened Enyimba’s injury in added time when Alalibo Somiari was dismissed for a last man tackle on Mountassir Lahtimi. Referee Alhadi Allaou Mahamat changed Somiari’s yellow card to a red card after a VAR review.
The two-time African champions, Enyimba will now face a challenging task when they play the North Africans in a rematch less than three days from now.
If Enyimba wins the match on aggregate, they will go straight to the semi-finals of the competition. But if they end up with a defeat or draw in Morocco, they will lose out on the money-spinning stage of the competition.
If Enyimba make it to the semi-finals, they will earn a whopping $1.7 million but if they crash out on Wednesday, they will only earn $900,000 which is the least earning for each team participating in the 2023 Africa Football League.
