Continental club competition: Rangers qualify for CCL 2nd preliminary round

By, Chinelo Kodilichukwu, Enugu

The Nigeria league champions, Rangers International F.C has qualified for the total Energies CAF Champions League 2024/2025 second preliminary round, with a 2-1 aggregate win over Comoros Islands champions, U.S de Zilimadjou in the first preliminary round of the premier continental club competition.

In the second leg, first preliminary round game played inside Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo on Friday, August 23, 2024, the ‘Flying Antelopes’ were forced to a 1-1 draw by the tiny Island nation.

After both sides ended the first half on a goalless note, with begging chances fretted away by the home side, coach Fidelis Ilechukwu had to make quick substitutions that saw Kazeem Ogunleye and Chiedozie Okorie make way for Ekeson Okorie and Bashir Usman just ten minutes into the second stanza.

The substitution turned out to be an inspired one as Ekeson Okorie, in one of his dashing runs into the box was fouled and the referee wasted no time in pointing to the spot, and Kenechukwu Agu expertly converted for the opening goal of the encounter on the 79th minute to send the fans that thronged the stadium into a frenzy.

Youssouf Mohamed, however, drew the Comoros side level with just four minutes left on the clock as he nodded home an inviting cross that the Rangers backline found hard to defend just a few seconds after they missed a promising attacking move at the other end of the pitch.

Despite the draw, the Nigerian side progressed to the next round of the competition where they are scheduled to engage either St. Louis F.C of Seychelles or Sagrada Esperanca F.C of Angola with the Angolan side enjoying a 1-0 lead from the first leg played in Seychelles last week.

Coach Fidelis Ilechukwu in his post-match chat, said, “We are happy to have qualified for the next round of the competition even though I believe that we did not up our game today against the Comoros champions. This goes a long way to show the mystery of the game of football. Sure, I am worried about our rate of converting chances but I am optimistic of getting over this challenge before the next window for new registration. I believe that the start of the new league season will go a long way in helping us stabilize with regards to cohesive play from my players.”

Captain of Rangers, Chinemerem Ugwueze in the post-match chat, said, “It was a difficult match but we stood our ground to get the ticket to the next round. This is a young, new, team that is being put together and the blending will take some time to happen. Having overcome this challenge from the Comoros champion, we have more time to work on our weaknesses going forward. We thank our supporters who came out to stand behind us and we hope to make them happy in future matches.