NFF President Gusau hails Rivers United, encourages Bayelsa Queens to learn from defeats

President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau has reacted to a number of matches by Nigeria’s representative teams across the world on Wednesday, praising Rivers United FC for standing strong to emerge as the only Nigeria team left in continental club competitions after a midweek of action across Africa.

The Pride of Rivers dug their feet into the turf of the Benina Martys Stadium in Benghazi, Libya to earn a 1-1 draw with Al Naser FC, and qualified for the CAF Confederation Cup group stage on 6-1 aggregate. Their feat came hours after fellow Nigeria flagbearers Plateau United imploded in a rather poor final four minutes to lose 0-3 to Al Akhdar FC on the same turf, wiping out their three-goal advantage from the first leg.

“On behalf of the NFF Board and the generality of Nigeria Football stakeholders, I congratulate Rivers United on their credible outing and I wish them success in the group stage. They did well to sustain the Nigeria flag in the competition.

“On their part, Bayelsa Queens also gave their best in the semi finals of the CAF Women Champions League in Morocco against home team, ASFAR FC. I was hoping they would reach the Final so that we would go and support them but they were not disgraced all the same. They should take the lessons from the defeat to do better next time. They should also fight hard for the bronze medals in order not to come back home empty-handed.”

The Queens lost by the odd goal to ASFAR and will now play Simba Queens of Tanzania for the third place, while ASFAR battle Cup holders Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in the final.

“As I have reiterated several times, the new NFF Board will provide tremendous encouragement for Nigeria women football to return strongly to its rightful place on the African continent and at global level,” Gusau added.