Enyimba head coach, Fatai Osho has said there is always a first time to everything in life as his side get set to blow out the Egyptian side, Pyramids FC for a place in the semifinals of the CAF Confederation Cup.
The two-time African champions will host the North African giants in the reverse fixture of CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinals clash on Sunday at the Enyimba International Stadium in Aba.
The first fixture clash on Sunday, May 16 in Cairo, Egypt saw the nation’s most decorated side fell abysmally 1-4 to their opposite, Pyramids FC.
Osho whose side must score at least three unanswered goals to progress to the semifinals of Africa’s second tier inter-club competition said though the task is tough but not totally impossible to overcome.
“Yes, strongly we believe it’s a huge task but not the one that is impossible. We know quite well that we have to start looking for the three goals we need to get to advance to the next stage of the competition.
“We have to look at the task more by splitting the 90 minutes into different time within the game that we need to get certain things done.
“We are looking at how we are going to play in the first ten minutes possibly try to get something from there, try to get one or two goals in the first half, that will give us confidence, that will bring hope and with that I think we can actually get it done.
“If we could score them at their backyard within 52 seconds why can’t we score here in the first 10 minutes and from there we start picking it up. Let see how the first goal will come and from there the inspiration will come.
“Sometimes it’s so sad to play a whole lot well and you are not taking your chances, we worked so hard on how to create these chances and since we are not taking it, we have to see what we can do and this time will be better in terms of conversion of chances.
“What brings hope is actually creating chances, it would have been a different situation not creating at all. The fact that we are creating but not taking it is something we can work on to try to get better.
“I remember the last time we played Orlando Pirates, no team in Africa was able to score them a single goal, and never conceded up to that stage of the competition we happened to be the first to score them in Soweto in their country.
“The task then was daunting how we will play against such side but we got victory over them to advance. If we have not score more than two goals in our recent matches there is always a first time to everything and that is the way we are looking at it,” said the former Remo Stars gaffer.
Osho disclosed the crew is working on the fitness of the players the reason they fell heavily to the opponents in the first leg.
“We have been trying to see how to bring back the fitness of the team which is very important though the time is short we are trying our best within the limited time to get them fit for the task ahead, once their fitness is okay there is no opposition they cannot withstand.
“There was evidence tiredness on the part of the players in the first leg clash, the agreement, compactness and tactical discipline were thrown out of the window, at some point, they were no more in shape and started playing out of shape,” said Osho.
The aggregate winners in the Enyimba, Pyramids encounter will confront the winners of the clash between Coton Sport FC and ASC Jaraaf in the semifinals.
