Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria’s representatives in the CAF Champions League preliminary rounds Plateau United have had their quest to qualify for the group stage of the CAF Champions League dashed on Saturday evening after a controversial penalty awarded to Esperance of Tunisia handed them a 1-0 defeat.
The Tunisians lost 2-1 in Abuja when both sides met at the Moshood Abiola stadium last week in the first leg and had an advantage going into the return leg with an away goal in their kitty.
Egyptian referee, Ibrahim Nour El Din whose calls in the game were mostly questionable controversially handed the hosts a lifeline in the 83rd minute with a penalty that meant Esperance’s away goal eliminated the Nigerian team.
Ben Romdhane converted the spot kick for the Tunisians to ensure that the four-time champions qualified for the group stage on away goal rule after the aggregate result ended 2-2.
In the CAF Confederation Cup prelimary rounds of qualifiers, Kwara United lost 2-0 away to Moroccan side RB Berkane and thus were eliminated on the away goals rule after defeating the north Africans 3-1 in the first leg of their fixtures last weekend at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos.
Djibril Ouattara put the defending champions infront, before
Cheick Ouattara tapped the ball home in the 16th minute with assist by Issoufou Dayo for the opener.
Charki El Bahri doubled the lead in the 54th minute as he pounced on goalkeeper Adewale Adeyinka’s gaffe.
Rivers United is the only other Nigerian team left to battle for a group stage berth in the CAF interclub competitions.
The Nigeria Professional Football League champions will be guests to Wydad Athletic at the Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca Sunday afternoon for a place in the CAF Champions League group stages.
Enyimba FC of Aba are two-time CAF Champions League winners after winning it in 2003 and 2004.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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