Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt coach, Finidi George has disclosed that he is awaiting videos of their CAF Champions League opponent’s recent matches, in order to make proper preparations for their impending clashes.
Sports247 reports that The Garden City side will first play away in the elite club competition’s opening preliminary round against the champions of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on September 19th and then host the second leg on September 26th.
While revealing that he expects to get three videos of the opponent’s matches this week, Finidi added that he has already started mental and general preparations on how to take The Pride of Rivers into the money-spinning competition’s group stage.
Finidi, who played for Calabar Rovers, Sharks of Port Harcourt, Ajax Amsterdam of Holland, Real Betis of Spain and Ipswich Town of England durng his active career, further disclosed that he will use Rivers United’s matches in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) to put his players in the right frame of mind for their continental campaign.
The former Super Eagles’ winger declared, “Our aim is to get to the group stage, and we’ll be looking forward to that experience. I think we are ready, but we still have to plan better.
“By the time we play our third or fourth game in the league, the team would be fully set for our continental matches. We’ll see what happens when we get there, but we’re not going on sightseeing. We will go there to compete.”
He then mentioned some specifics for the CCL’s upcoming first preliminary round fixtures and admitted that the draw favoured his side, as they will play away first and then return home to correct any lapses before the second leg.
The ex-international, who was fondly called ‘Finito’ during his heyday, added: “Since we are first playing away before coming home, we’ll see how we can get the best result over there then come back home and see how we can scale through.
“We already know it’s a good team we’re going to play against. Someone is sending three of their match videos to us. From there, we’ll see their strengths and weaknesses.
“We will work with that and start planning better for the two matches,” said Finidi, who previously handled Enyimba of Aba and the Nigerian national team, Super Eagles, but resigned after just two matches in charge.
