Kaduna Utd qualify for q/finals

From UBA IBRAHIM, Kaduna
Posted: Monday, June 13, 2011

KADUNA United FC yesterday at the Township Stadium overwhelmed Entente Sportive de Setiff of Algeria in the return leg of Orange CAF Confederation Cup by 3-0. A fortnight ago in Algeria at the Stade du Mai 8 1945, Abderahmane Hachoud plundered a late second half winner against United in their first encounter.
In what seems to be a difficult match to the Kaduna outfit in the first half of the second leg encounters yesterday, it however became so simple at the second stanza, pouncing their opponents 3-0.
Jude Anike, the arrow head of Kaduna United scored the first goal of his side with a powerful header after connecting a lowly pass from Emma Vivan. Meanwhile, after the goal was scored the Algerians registered some protest that Anike aided the goal with his hand. The game was brought to a standstill and in the process, O.U. Jadou violently challenged the referee who in turned gave him the matching order.
Earlier in the first half, the referee gave Yekhlef Mohammed a red card too for challenging his decision by bouncing the ball on the ground.
As the match progresses, Rabiu Baita scored another goal for Kaduna United with a volley and Anike added the third goal with a header again off a pull out from Abdulrazak Balogun who came as a substitute to Baita.
Speaking in an interview after the match, Idiris Papa, captain of Kaduna United said they were able to overturn the tide against their oppoenet by the power of God, "with the prayers from our fans, football supporters in Kaduna and the nation we were able to achieved our desire.
"Victory is on our side with the motivation we always receive from the managements of this team right from on set and put a lot of dedication to win today's match.
"We have prepared well and we can hardly wait for the match. We were fully ready for the match, most of us here in Kaduna United believe this is our time, this is the time that we can show the world that we have grown big not only to represent Kaduna state or Nigeria, but we are big enough to represent the continent in any football tournament, and we have confidence that we can make it to the final. To have victory in any football match it goes with your good performance, luck and technical preparation, all of this we have," Papa added.
He noted that: "In football nowadays you don't have to underrate your opponent. ESS are a good team, and they have been there for long in CAF champions' league representing their country. I thought we played better football than them in the first leg encounter but got the goal and won the match. That tells you that even if you play and don't have luck you sometimes will not win.