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The Management of Enyimba Football Club has decried the sudden rescheduling of the club’s CAF Champions League fixture against Zamalek of Egypt, describing it as unfair.
Anyansi Agwu, chairman of the club, who was shocked at the development, queried why a game as important as that could be brought forward without any consultation with the visiting team.
He appealed to CAF to move the game to Monday, August 15, if it cannot be played on Sunday, as the team does not have a full squared to play on Saturday, stating that the rest of their squared, would be joining them from Spain on Saturday, where they are on national assignment.
Enyimba departed Nigeria on Thursday afternoon with the knowledge that their make or break tie against the Egyptians would be played on Sunday, August 14, 2016, but shortly after their arrival in Cairo, the management got a letter from CAF, stating that the match has been brought forward to Saturday, August 13, 2016, due to what they termed, “security concerns”.
This development according to Anyansi, is against the rules. According to him, Enyimba has made all plans based on the knowledge that we are playing on Sunday, so we don’t know how we can suddenly be told to play on Saturday.
“What if we had arrived Egypt on Friday? Would we have been forced to still play on Saturday? This is not fair at all for us and for Nigeria. Any change should have been discussed with us, so that all parties can work out what is in the best interest of everyone. Right now, this doesn’t suit us, at all.
“Moreover, we traveled with a limited number of players. Our intention was to have the rest of our squad join us from Spain on Saturday, where they are on national assignment.
“They would be arriving Cairo at 5.00 pm on Saturday, so how would the match be played? We do not have the requisite number of players for a match on Saturday, so we are appealing to CAF to move the game to Monday, August 15, if it cannot be played on Sunday, due to security concerns; it’s the only way we can play.”
“We will also be appealing to the Egyptian FA and Zamalek to assist us in changing our booking reservations with Egypt Air from Monday to Tuesday. This change will cause us difficulties and we are appealing to CAF, the Egyptian FA and Zamalek SC to make things easy for us, because we have no hand in the adjustment of the fixture.”
Enyimba have no point in their group after two games and will be hoping to avoid defeat in Cairo to keep alive their dreams of a third continental crown. Zamalek meanwhile are second on the log with 3 points behind already qualified Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.
