Having forced Tiko United of Cameroon to a 2-2 draw in the first
leg encounter of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League,
Heartland Football Club of Owerri are ready to end the Camerounian’s ambition
on the continent at the Dan Ayiam Stadium in Owerri today.
For Heartland, the encounter is almost a done deal. One, their
opponent, who are appearing on the continent for the first time after almost 50
years of existence, do not have Heartland’s pedigree in the round leather game.
Tiko United have never won any major title, both away and at
home, until 2009 when they emerged the surprise winners of the Cameroun
national league; whereas, their host has five NPL title to its credit as well
as the six previous appearances in the continental event.
Two, Heartland will want to avoid the embarrassment of getting
eliminated in the second round by a debutante. It will be recalled that
Nigeria’s other representative in the competition this season, Bayelsa United,
were eliminated at the preliminary stages by another league debutante, Gazelle
FC of Chad.
Added to this, Heartland are known for their formidable home
form. In 2009, enroute to the final of the money spinning competition, the team
won all its home matches, twice defeating eventual winners 2-0 and 2-1 at the
group and final stages respectively.
“We will conquer for
Nigerians”
Already, Kelechi Emetole, the head coach of the Naze
Millionaires, as the 2009 silver medallist are known among fans, has boasted
that the visiting Tiko United will get drowned in goals.
Emeteole, the reigning Nigerian coach of the year, in a comment
to www.cafonline.com on the likely outcome of the encounter in Owerri, said:
“We can conquer. We’ll conquer, and we’re ready to conquer for Nigerians. All
we need is their prayers and support.” The ‘Caterpillar’, a name he bagged
during his active playing days, maintained his wards realise Tiko can stop them
from moving into the next stage and are ready to avoid their visitors trap.
“We’re talking of modern day football, and if you can defeat an
opponent on his home pitch, who says they cannot also do same on your ground?
At the moment, we’re looking at the possibility of confronting SuperSport
United of South Africa in the final round before the group stage.
“But we’re very careful to note that the team that can stop our
dream is Tiko United and I learnt they have been preparing very well, so we
must be careful not to stray into their trap.”
Poor team
Despite being optimistic about the team’s chances against their
visitors, Heartland’s current squad is poorer than the team which stormed the
continent to place second last season.
On the home front, Heartland are stuck at the 12th place with 33
points, 14 points behind NPL leaders, Enyimba FC, an offshoot in the
performance which saw the team grabbing the League second place in 2008 and
2009.
With Heartland’s poor run in the local league, forcing Emetole
to admit that the absence of Uche Agba, who now plays for Tunisian club CS
Sfaxien, and Nigeria’s FIFA U-17 World Cup silver medal winning star, Stanley
Okoro, may have strongly affected the team.
Still, the quartet of John Owoeri, Musa Koformata, Ikechukwu
Ibenegbu and Signs Chimbabo will provide enough danger for the visitors.
Tiko: a hard nut to crack
However, after eliminating 13 times Burundi Premier League Champions,
Vital’ O FC, from the continent this season, Tiko United may just grab another
upset at Heartland’s home turf today.
In the first leg encounter, played at the Price Louis Rwagasore
Stadium, Bujumbura, in Burundi, the Gérard Mbimi tutored Tiko side forced their
host to a 2-2 draw in front of their home fans.
And with Edingue Tombe and Njounkou Job who grabbed the Cameroonian’s two
away goals in Burundi still making the squad troubling the defense of the
Nigerians, Tiko may just create an upset.
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