Johannesburg – Bloemfontein Celtic coach John Maduka has conceded they are facing one of their most challenging and gruelling campaigns of juggling between the domestic DStv Premiership matches and honour the CAF Confederation Cup fixtures.
Before travelling to Benin to take on Nigerian side Rivers United in the African inter-club competition in their rescheduled first round, second-leg away tie next Saturday, Phunya Selele faced Stellenbosch at home this past weekend, then they traveled to Tshwane for a date with Mamelodi Sundowns on Tuesday night, before jetting out to west Africa on the same night.
“It’s never been easy, the schedule is tight here at home as we have to play back-to-back matches. There is no reason to complain, it is something we have to deal with and move on,” said the former Celtic captain Maduka.
But Maduka could be without left-back Sifiso Ngobeni, who is suffering from a groin injury and attacking midfielder Tumelo Mangweni (leg injury).
Mangweni came on as a second- half substitute and scored the superb equaliser against Sundowns in December.
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“I hope they recover in time to make the trip to west Africa. We will be assessing them, we still have time on our side because there are two league matches to play at home before we decide whether they will travel or not,” Maduka said.
“I strongly believe we can reverse the result and get an aggregate win. We are going out to compete.”
Siwelele go into the second leg, away match against Rivers United with a 2-0 deficit after losing at home and are faced with a mammoth task of scoring three goals and not concede.
The CAF rescheduled fixture will be played at the Stade Charles De Gaulles De Porto Novo in Nigeria’s neighbours, Benin, a country with more lenient coronavirus travelling regulations for South Africans.
The match could not be played in Nigeria because of that country’s strict Covid-19 protocols and Maduka believes they should have been given a waiver two weeks ago.
“The match was supposed to be played on January 6 in Port Harcourt but we could not travel to Nigeria due to their strict coronavirus regulations,” said Maduka. “It would have meant we should go into quarantine for seven days upon arrival in Nigeria. It would not have worked as we have Premiership fixtures to honour here at home and we cannot disrupt the league programme that is tight as it is.”
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The winner of the tie in Benin will face Enyimba in the play-off round for a place in the group stage of the competition.
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