Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria champions Rivers United on Wednesday at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium Port Harcourt thrashed Libyan opponents Al Nasr Benghazi of Libya 5-0 in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup third round stage playoff round.
The Nigeria Professional Football League champions lost out to Wydad Casablanca of Morocco on goal difference in the CAF Champions League qualification stages after they hidropped to the second-tier African interclub competition.
Ebube Duru opened the goals account in the 12th minute, with Kazie Enyinnaya and Paul Acquah finding the back of the net to ensure Coach Stanley Eguma’s team led 3-0 at half time.
Ebube Duru completed his brace from the penalty spot in the 64th minute and Malachi Ohawume rounded off a solid afternoon with the fifth goal 18 minutes from time.
The second leg will be played at the Martyrs Stadium, Benghazi on Wednesday, November 9, and the winner over both legs will proceed to the group stage of the competition.
The Pride of Rivers were promised the sum of $40,000 per player if they had overcame the Moroccans, Wydad, in the CAF Champions League qualifiers but missed out eventually.
Plateau United are the other CAF Confederation Cup hopefuls from Nigeria after also dropping down to the competition albeit rather controversially after their failed efforts in the CAF Champions League qualifying stages.
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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