Heartland brace for Brazzaville battle
by Humphrey Njoku 11 May 2012, 17:17
Nigeria's Caf Confederation Cup flagbearers, Heartland arrived Lagos on Friday's afternoon for their trip to DR Congo on Saturday morning ahead of the crunchy second leg tie against AC Leopards.
Though faced with a tough challenge going beyond the elimination stage in the hands of the Congolese side, the Nigerian campaigners are upbeat that the task before them is not insurmountable.
Heartland defeated their opponents 3-2 in the first fixture at Owerri a fortnight but the slim goal margin has left many Nigerians apprehensive due to the away goals rule going into the reverse fixture in the city of Dolisie on Sunday.
Super Eagles' and goalkeeper of the side, Daniel Akpeyi assured that the 2009 Caf Champions League finalists will return to Nigeria as victors.
"We’re 95% ready for this match. AC Leopards are good but they are not better than us and we want to make sure that we do not make those mistakes which gave them two goals last time," he told SuperSport.com.
A top official of the Naze Millionaires, Fan Ndubuoke is emphatic of good tidings from his wards as far as Nigerians keep the team in prayers.
"We have done lots of homework after the first leg and I have hope the players will live up to expectations," he said.
"We don’t need anybody to tell us that we have a tough assignment, I’m sure we are going to Congo with a dependable team and everything being equal we're certain of victory.
"Our God is alive and I want Nigerians to continue praying for us," he said.
The Naze Millionaires are hoping that the logistics support from both the Nigerian Embassy in Congo and the Nigerian community in Brazzaville will ease off any hostile atmosphere the hosts may come up with.
